Souvenir: The Six
by MarySuOfYay
Summary: Prequel to Souvenir. The story from start to end of the first six minibots unfortunate enough to land in Shockwaves' custody. Highly suggested to have read Souvenir first.
1. Chapter 1

Author notes: ..Hi again, three months later. ^^; I got distracted by things like.. Work. And hobbies. And.. Work. BUT HEY, I said I'd write this! So.. Here we go.

This will not be the same as Souvenir. There will be no happy ending for most of our protagonists. But if you're reading this at all, you probably already knew that.

But the stories will be told from start to end of our six.

Here we go..!

_I I I I I I I I I I I I I_

_If you want to know how far to go to hell_

_Just ask me_

_I'm the final straw, the nail in the coffin_

_Just by being who I am_

_Is so God-damned_

_I'm not the master of the universe_

_I walk the earth the wrong way_

_Met my potential and fulfilled the worst_

_My best is cursed the wrong way_

- 'Master of the Universe', Sick Puppies

**Souvenir: The Six**

**Chapter One**

_I I I I I I I I I I I I I_

Waking up was one of the hardest things Hubcap had ever had to do.

It wasn't so much the slow stir from unconscious itself - though that did move about much slower than it should have and came accompanied with a terrible, painful pulse of his own sparkbeat in his helm. For the most part, the worst of it came about when he realized that things weren't quite right.

When the universe was off-center, Hubcap tended to pretend to still be unconscious. It was a defense mechanism and, ordinarily, useful in the sort of life he lead; it would not have been the first time he woke up in an alleyway, sporting fresh wounds from a disgruntled customer.

However, this was no alleyway. The stench of garbage was missing, although there was the faint smell of stale energon. There were also far too many people around him; far more than a stray thief or even a gang of some sort. It didn't help that the hard, cold surface he was laying on could only be some sort of floor instead of the gritty, trash-strewn streets of Cybertron.

Then there was the fact that he couldn't quite recall how he had gotten there in the first place.

Hubcap strained to recall anything beyond the pounding in his head and the distraction of nearby whispers. Anything, even so much as a bar fight or going out to get drunk in the first place, would at least give him something.

It took several nervous, nearly panic-ridden seconds to remember the mad dash through his apartment, the wail of Autotrooper sirens, and the broken glass as he leapt out his own window. The local authorities had, once again, grown wise to his scams and tricks; as usual, he hadn't picked up on the warning signs and was forced to escape just in time.

If the memory had ended there, he would have been pleased; at least, the fall from his fourth-floor apartment would have explained why he had been unconscious and in a cell. Instead, his processor proclaimed there was more, bringing up a barely conscious stumble in to vehicle mode and the rush to a nearby spaceport. He would not have been surprised if he had a concussion at the time, as foggy as the memory was.

After that, things were hazy; he must have purchased a ticket to somewhere, because he could remember sitting in a small craft. However, there wasn't much left to what he knew after that, save for some in-space turbulence and flashing lights.

"Ow." Hubcap decided to stop pretending; he would never know if he continued to lie there. Several gasps came from around him. "The slag is going on..?"

"You were smacked by a suitcase." A short blue and gray mech with a face Hubcap thought resembled the nozzle hose from a vacuum cleaner knelt above him. "Could've been worse, though. Could've been a body." A vague gesture was made over a sloped shoulder pad as a servo was offered down.

In the direction of the gesture, another bot lay unconscious on the floor. The frame sported far too many dents and wounds to be healthy.

Hubcap boggled as he took the hand up and stared at the odd logos on the unconscious bots' frame. "Is that.. A flight attendant?"

"Was." The vacuum bot shrugged. "He didn't buckle up before we got shot down."

The words struck Hubcap as if it were a crowbar. "Wait, what? Shot down?" Panic and a deep, unsettling confusion flared at the information. "What do you mean, shot down? Who shot us down?"

Then, he took a moment to glance around. They were certainly in some sort of cell; the space was far too small for all the bots in it, dark and barely lit by two dying lights in the ceiling above.

What sort of craft had he snuck on to? Try as he might, Hubcap couldn't recall if he had been on a small six-seater or a multi-floor turbojet. Even with a processor injury, he thought he would have gotten on to a cheap enough ride that this should not have even been something to worry about.

Had the Elite Guard shot them down trying to arrest him?

A glance around the crowd ruled that last one out; no one glared at him or demanded his head on a platter. There was only a mesmerizing cocktail of fear, confusion and a disturbing hopelessness on the faceplate of every one of what looked like about three or four dozen Autobots there.

"Decepticons." The vacuum bot seemed far too level-headed, Hubcap thought. "Decepticons shot us down."

For a moment, he could only stare at the strangely helmed mech, unable to comprehend what he had just said. "..But Decepticons don't exist, anymore. The history channel said so."

His own voice sounded small even to his own audios.

"Well, looks like the slaggin' history channel was wrong." The strange bot growled. "None of us know what's going on other than 'Cons got us. Name's Searchlight. Don't suppose you know.. some.." The blue and gray mech trailed off and turned to what seemed to be the door, suspicion crossing what amounted to his face.

Hubcap stared for a brief moment of confusion. Before he could think of a proper question to ask through the thick haze of shock, noises began to trickle in from beyond the solid steel keeping them inside.

With the door in the way, it all came muffled and with an odd echo; still, the voices could be made out for what they were.

"You better have one fragging good excuse for this." A deep, gruff voice that sounded like sandpaper. Whoever it was did not sound happy.

"Commander, sir..!" An obviously frightened response. "I.. I was under the impression that the intelligence agent was on board one of those ships.. Sir..!" The voice actually pitched.

"So, you decided to shoot them down." The gruff voice mocked, clearly unimpressed. "In space. All four ships, less than a thousand hics from Autobot surveillance."

"It.. I.. But.."

"Was the agent on board any of those ships, soldier?"

"..No." Barely a whimper, it was almost inaudible.

"I see. Lord Megatron, you understand, is going to be very unhappy about this." A snarl. "I am not all that happy with this, either. You will be severely reprimanded, you realize. Now, get out of my sight."

Then, the sound of shuffling metal and what might have been the frightened Decepticon running off. Inside the cell, nervous glances were traded about.

A moment later, the door opened with a slow, horrid creak.

No one spoke; the few hushed whimpers that had risen during and after the overheard conversation died as soon as they saw the tall, bulky excuse for a Cybertronian at the door. As large as the menacing, spike-covered being was, they could see nothing of the hall beyond.

The Decepticon - Hubcap could only assume it as the snarling commander that they had overheard - grumbled and glared. "Pathetic lot."

There was no response from any of the Autobots.

"Ugh.. Might as well get the injured fixed up." A snort and a sideways glance to something or someone further down the hall. "Waste of a slave, otherwise."

The words finally evoked a reaction other than blank terror; gasps and startled cries rose up from the various Autobots that quickly rose in volume.

"What?" Several yelled at once.

"What do you mean, slave?" A femme cried.

"We haven't done anything! Please, let us go!" A mech that seemed far too old called out.

For his part, Hubcap could only feel a deep, cold pit in the core of his spark. He was still trying to get past the fact that Decepticons not only existed, but had captured them; the concept of 'slave' seemed far too much to even consider. The words churned in his processor, combating denial and the sudden need to believe that he had injured his head worse than he thought and that this was all some strange hallucination.

Hubcap felt ill; the screaming and pleading were only becoming worse around him, even as Decepticons came in to drag the injured and unconscious away. All he could do was sit there, trying in vain to comprehend the situation.

Perhaps it would have been better to have been arrested.

_I I I I I I I I I I I I I_

Eventually, the noise died down to an exhausted, frightened silence.

The only sound were the whispers; attempts at comfort, promises that everything would be all right and questions about possible escape.

"We need to stay calm." Searchlight had said, seemingly out of the blue. "Things are probably going to get worse before they get better, but we have to stay calm if we have any hope of getting out of this."

Everyone had turned to stare, looking to that one bot with such need in their optics. The longing on so many faceplates had been the worst thing Hubcap had ever seen.

It took several hours for the desperation to reach a peak; several bots had attempted to open the door. It hadn't budged, of course - Searchlight had said it wouldn't, that Decepticons were much too smart for that -, but they had tried anyway.

When the metal didn't so much as move an inch, fists pounded on the door and demanded release, begging once again for any sort of mercy.

Nothing happened. There had been only sparkbreak.

For the first time in his life, Hubcap didn't know what to do. Before, there had always been some way out; bribery, persuasion, a back door or window, or even a scam he could run.

Somehow, he doubted any of that would work here. All that he knew of the Decepticons - wicked, cruel creatures the media had always portrayed as spark-less monsters - were not those that could be swindled. Less than a month ago, he would have laughed at a horror movie depicting a similar situation.

This was simply beyond his scope of reasoning; he had no worldly idea of what he should be doing or what was going to happen.

According to his chronometer, six long hours passed before anything happened. The first warning came when what sounded like heavy footsteps echoed from outside; then, a few startled yelps and what sounded like, "Lieutenant! Sir!"

A few seconds later, the door swung open again.

A monster stood there.

Those that had been sitting by the door lurched in horror and ran to the back of the cell; someone screamed before another clamped a servo over their mouth.

There were no words that Hubcap could think of to properly call what was there; it stood tall, sported a deep shade of purple and black markings that would have otherwise not been so bizarre had it not been for it's head. A long, elongated faceplate that lacked any mouth or visible olfactory sensors; only startlingly frightening sensory antennas that reached and branched upwards as if to grab at something and a single horrid, bulbous red optic sporting a wide slit from top to bottom. Hypnotized by that optic the way he was, Hubcap almost missed the long, wicked claws that appeared to be individually larger than most Autobots.

That slitted optic somehow seemed better fitted to the organic off-world animals all Autobots were warned about; it looked to their huddled, trembling mass of bodies, twitching slightly as it glanced from one bot to the next.

Perhaps the thing - and Hubcap honestly could not think to call it anything other than a thing; no natural Cybertronian could look like that, as far as he knew - was taking stock of who was there.

"Holy slag..!" Someone whispered from their cowering mess of limbs and frames. "What _is_ that thing..?"

At least he wasn't the only one.

In the sudden shock of fear, Hubcap found himself trying to hide behind Searchlight. Despite that the other bot was barely taller than he was - they sported the same protoform mold, in fact - he refused to move away to hide behind the larger parts of the small mountain the captives had become. The whole of them quaked in the back of the cell, some closing their optics shut or burying their faceplates in friends' frames.

Only Searchlight didn't seem frightened; instead, he glared at the creature at the door.

Hubcap wondered if his fellow minibot was insane.

The great red optic continued to glance from one Autobot to the next; every time it focused on one, the mech or femme in question would whimper or shake even worse. However, the gaze never focused on one for too long; not any longer than these eternal seconds seemed to be, at any rate.

Eventually, it stared in his direction. Hubcap ducked and tried to hide behind his living shield; again, Searchlight didn't so much as flinch as he was the target of the very same glare.

The eye moved on.

Then, it looked back at them.

This time, it kept on staring. It did not turn away nor did it focus on any other point in the room.

It was focused squarely on them. The seconds ticked by.

Hubcap trembled and sincerely hoped it was Searchlight that the monster was focused on.

Suddenly, it moved; a strange, round, cloven pede took a single step in to the room. Several Autobots yelped and jumped at the seemingly thunderous footstep that resulted. Another step was taken, the gait slow and casual.

The entire time, it stared down at the two minibots; Searchlight continued to glare upwards as Hubcap began to whimper.

It didn't take long for the terrifying Decepticon to loom above them. If he had dared, Hubcap could have reached out to touch the towering creature.

The optic was moving again; back and forth, this time, between one minibot and the next. It was silent, never letting out any noise.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, before any of them could react, there came a sudden lurch from the claws on one impossibly large servo; three pointed digits wrapped themselves around a much smaller target. There came a frightened commotion at the unexpected action.

Hubcap let out a scream of his own, especially once he realized that he had been the one grabbed; he screamed again as he was lifted in to the air. The claws pinned his arms to his side, making struggle impossible; still, he twisted and flailed in nothing short of sheer terror.

"Let him go!" That was the loudest Searchlight had been since he had met him; Hubcap dared to glance down to find shock on the other minibots' faceplate. "Put him down!"

The monster said nothing; even as Searchlight moved to rush at Primus only knew what, the claws on the free servo violently tossed him aside. Several Autobots let out startled cries as their fellow mech landed on them.

Hubcap was lost in a sea of terror and confusion; he could barely understand what the creature holding him was, let alone what it wanted. He tried to kick in the air and squirm out of the claws holding him, but they held firm.

Suddenly, he found that he couldn't move his head; it took a moment longer to realize that the pointed digits of two claws were holding on to either side of his own helm. They didn't so much as dent, despite the wicked point that they ended in, but Hubcap was unable to move away.

That large, red optic was far too close; with the claws on his head, he couldn't turn away; he could only stare with his own wide optics and tremble.

No one else was making a sound, either.

"What.. What do you want from me?" He had to force out the words.

The claws holding his helm twitched, forcing his head to tilt ever so slightly to the left; for a moment, Hubcap feared that the monster would tear his head off as some sort of example. Those sorts of things had been shown in the horror movies with Decepticon villains enough times. A long, thin keen left his vocalizer at the recollection of various films.

However, the same claws didn't turn his head enough to hurt; instead, it forced the minibots' skull to the right.

Only then did Hubcap realize the monster was inspecting him for something; for what, he had no idea.

"Hmm." The monster finally let out a sound.

There was a small popping noise and the sensation of warm liquid trailing down his lower back; Hubcap whimpered and flushed as he realized he had sprung an oil leak.

The monster didn't seem phased, although it did glance down at the new puddle forming on the floor. "Have any of them been claimed as of yet?"

"..Uh.." Was the slow response from the hallway. "..Not yet, no, Lieutenant Shockwave."

"Good." The now named monster let out a breath; from where, Hubcap couldn't be certain, since it didn't appear that this Shockwave had a mouth. "I'm taking this one."

The world spun as the monster turned with the minibot still in his hand; his skull was let go, but that was small consolation to the claws still around Hubcap's body. The rest of the Autobots in the cell - Searchlight in particular - began to yell and cry out demands for his release.

Hubcap didn't know what was happening, but the claws held firm; he was being taken somewhere, and he didn't know why or for what purpose. He wasn't even certain what had just happened.

So, the minibot, yellow armor shining in a stark contrast to the gray and purple holding him, whimpered and tried very hard not to panic.

It wasn't working very well.

_I I I I I I I I I I I I I_

_Your glass is half, his glass is full_

_My glass is empty_

_You're running short of not enough_

_Well, I got plenty_

_And when I die, I'm gonna fly_

_And come and get you_

_And when you try and run_

_I'll be the curse above you_

_It's gonna end, it's gonna end_

_In the race for disaster, I will come in first_

_That's what I've learned the hard way_

- 'Master of the Universe', Sick Puppies


	2. Chapter 2

Author notes: Wow, are people actually reading this? XD

Just some notes, here; the first few chapters will be very similar to the start of Souvenir. There are just too many parallels between the start of Blurr's and Cliffjumpers' journey and Hubcap's. At least, for a little bit; there will certainly be some differences. ;)

The other five will not show for some time, yet. But, in the meanwhile.. Enjoy Hubcap.

By the way, Hubcap is pretty much his Allspark Almanac II self, more or less. So is Tap-Out. The others, however, won't be; mostly because I wrote their roles in BEFORE Allspark Almanac II came out. How was -I- supposed to know that Carerra and Volks had character designs! XD

But, yes. Hubcap is pretty much the same as Allspark Almanac II cannon. Whee!

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Come on in, take a seat_

_Tell me how you feel this week_

_Are you cursed? Are you blessed?_

_Are you still inside the mess?_

_All those feelings wrapped around you_

_Hold you down so you can't break through_

_Time is up, take your shot_

_'Cause your story's all you got_

_Don't back down, don't say no_

_Just exhale and let go_

_Strip down, show me flesh and bone_

_'Cause now I own you_

- 'I Own You', Shinedown

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Hubcap was afraid. Absolutely, positively terrified, in fact; he could admit that much to himself, finding a strange comfort in the familiar sensation. Fear, he had learned, was healthy; it had been an especially useful tool in the not-too-entirely-legal life that he had lead, giving him just enough knowledge on who he should and should not attempt to scam.

So, trapped and carried in what he thought were the impossibly large claws of a monster that shouldn't even exist, there was no attempt to bite the fear down. The yellow minibot trembled and quaked, allowing the terror to flow through his meta.

As the disturbingly quiet journey progressed, he briefly wondered if escape was possible; a quick glance had been made around wherever it was the monster was taking him. All he had seen were a sea of red optics in an otherwise unremarkable hallway. The dozens of Decepticons, looking in either curiosity or amusement, had quickly killed the idea.

In the overwhelming fear, Hubcap had closed his optics; he didn't know where he was being taken, but he knew it probably wasn't good. The horror movies he had seen were all that gave him insight in to Decepticon motives; so far, they had been proven right. The tortures those scripts had claimed could still be in his future and he did not want to see it coming.

If he was going to be used as cruel entertainment, he could at least be ignorant until it happened.

The walk seemed to take a very long time. Every single step sent a thunderous quake through his frame; the pounding of his own sparkbeat in his skull only became worse as every jolt went through him. Granted, shutting off his optics likely did nothing more than make his sense of touch all the more sensitive, but Hubcap felt it was a fair trade.

A part of him hoped that the pain indicated that something was wrong with his processor. He had heard of glitches that spontaneously fried circuitry in bots' helms; a part of him truly hoped that something like that would offline him before these terrifying Decepticons could torture him.

Perhaps it already had offlined him and he just didn't know it yet.

The hiss of a sliding door sounded far too close; the very edge of one blue optic lit alight as an open doorframe passed by. They were finally entering a room, then; with a soft whimper, the minibot shut his vision off again.

Then, the claws holding him began to move; a slow, easy descent downwards. With a tenderness and care Hubcap certainly had not expected, the monster carefully set him down on the floor of wherever they were. The Autobot was even allowed to steady himself on his own two pedes before he was let go.

Hubcap knew that he could have simply been dropped; he wondered why he wasn't. Hesitantly, he let his vision return and looked up at the Decepticon that had claimed him.

It was a very, very long way up; he hadn't noticed it in the cell, as dark as it had been, but the clawed monstrosity was far, far larger than he had realized.

A single, large red optic stared back.

Hubcap gulped.

For several seemingly long seconds, nothing happened.

"I will return in a short while." The words came as a surprise; despite how calm the tone was, the Autobot jumped as if he had shouted.

Hubcap didn't dare to move; he simply stared as Shockwave turned and walked back out the way they came. The door slid shut of it's own accord; it locked with a very loud click.

Then, the yellow minibot collapsed from above shaking legs; he sat on the floor and pulled up his knees.

For a long while, he had to try very hard just to breathe.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

The Decepticons should not have existed. A long enough time had passed since the Great Wars that their once feared enemies had been reduced to media caricatures; the token villain for a movie plot or a mad scientist in sparklings' entertainment.

He shouldn't even be there, Hubcap reasoned; none of this could possibly have been happening. Perhaps the craft he was in had crashed; perhaps this was all some strange hallucination. Perhaps he was even living in a delusion in the depths of stasis lock.

After all, the monster known as Shockwave couldn't possibly exist.

The minibot slowly uncurled and stumbled back to to his feet; a shaky smile began to form at newfound decisions.

Shockwave had held claws that were larger than most Autobot frames, a single bulbous eye with a wickedly organic flair, and no real faceplate; a monster of that degree could only be formed from his own imagination. There was simply no other explanation.

"Gotta be in stasis lock." Hubcap nervously chuckled to himself. "Huh.. Wonder what repair bay I'm in."

With a great deal more confidence, he looked around where he had been set; he wondered if he would recognize the scenery from any of the films he had seen.

It was with some surprise that nothing was familiar; what awaited him instead was a fairly small room with furniture far too large to fit it properly. Decepticon-sized things, to be certain; the single chaise couch, datapad-lined shelf and berth filled the room more than he would have thought possible.

Somehow, he was reminded of a story he had been told as a young sparkling; the title was long forgotten, but it had involved a magical plant and giants.

Hubcap smirked; he wondered if he would find the energon-laying turbofox that had been in the story.

With nothing better to do, he began to look around; the furniture was large enough to crawl beneath the couch and berth with room to spare.

It was strangely entertaining, Hubcap decided, to explore a delusion that held such detail; he had never had such an expansive dream before. Of course, he had never been knocked in to stasis lock, either.

Within an hour, the minibot found himself sitting on the very edge of the chaise and disappointed at the lack of turbofox.

An hour after that, he had fallen in to recharge on the couch; it was much too large for his frame size and he stretched atop it.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Hubcap woke up to a ticklish sensation around his helm.

It wasn't an altogether troubling sensation; a featherlight caress that stroked his chevron, continued down his left cheek and came back up again. He had felt it before, on those many nights that he had either slept drunkenly or been left beaten in an alleyway; some small rodent - a turbofox or a petrorabbit, most likely - bravely exploring the body on the floor.

Still, the tickling was becoming annoying; with a soft sigh, Hubcap lit his optics in the expectation of meeting a pair of beady little eyes staring back.

Instead, a very large, slitted red optic stared down at him. Claws hovered by the side of his head.

Hubcap screamed and jumped; as he did so, he fell off the chaise. Once he hit the floor, he scurried backwards until his back met the nearby wall.

He was still here. Weren't dreams supposed to end - to change, at least - when someone fell asleep in them? That was what the movies had always said would happen. Briefly, he spent a moment to inwardly curse at the lies of modern fiction.

The one-eyed thing - Shockwave, Hubcap belatedly remembered was it's name - simply stood there and stared. With no real faceplate to speak of, there was no emotion the minibot could gauge from the creature.

"I want to wake up now, I want to wake up now.." The small Autobot whimpered and shut his optics off again.

He jolted again as he felt the tickling return; he snapped open his optics to find that the monster had somehow either stepped over or around the large couch without him hearing to touch his head again.

Panic flared; delusion or reality, he was still there.

"What do you _want_?" Hubcap flattened himself against the wall. Quickly, memories came roaring back. "I heard 'slave', okay, I get that, but I seriously don't know what kind of labor you think I can do, so maybe you should just.. Let me go or sneak me out or something and I'll.. I'll pay you!" He was rambling, he knew; he couldn't help himself. "I have lots of credits and shanix spread out in banks all over the place, so if you get me out of here, I'll.. I'll give you whatever I got in there, okay?"

Hubcap put on his best salesman smile and prayed.

Shockwave simply stared; after several long seconds, an elongated helm tilted ever so slightly to the side.

Hubcap hoped that meant that the bizarre Decepticon was considering the offer. "I have a good four hundred thousand credits alone.." It was a complete lie, but the monster didn't have to know that. "And at least a couple thousand shanix! What do you say, huh?"

Keep smiling; it was the first rule of making any sale or scam. However, keeping to what was ordinarily such a simple concept proved difficult as the claws of one servo reached again; it brushed the side of his face and over an audio. Hubcap froze; the forced smile began to hurt.

The Decepticon was silent; it only made the minibot all the more nervous.

"..O-Okay.. Uhm.." For the first time in his life, he had idea what to say. "I can get more if that's what -"

The claw grabbed at his arm quicker than he had ever seen anyone grab at anything.

The minibot yelped at the sudden hold and screamed again as he was pulled away from the wall.

It appeared that his offer had either been completely ignored or, worse, had been seen as nothing more than amusing. With panic flaring deep and the confusion over what the monster was after still presenting itself as a mystery, Hubcap decided that the best course of action was to struggle.

So, he did; he flailed and screamed, at first not paying attention to where he was being dragged. It took several long strides on the Decepticons part before he realized that they were heading towards the berth.

Two seconds ticked by before he realized what that implied.

"_Wait!_" The minibot screamed before he could really think. "Wait, wait, wait, I-If that's what you want, I know of lots of places!"

The monster dragging him stopped; Hubcap took that as a good sign.

"Y-yeah, what, is it my mold? My color? I know of lots of places that's practically tailor made! Places most bots don't even know about!" Back to the salesman pitch, but the smile was impossible to form; he tried, but he knew it didn't look right.

Still, that one eye turned to stare at him again with that same tilt of the head.

"Is it the minibot thing?" Hubcap shifted in place; his arm was still being clutched and he had to force himself not to pull at it.

The one-eyed thing bent to one knee to kneel in front of him; it was the closest they would get to being optic-to-optic with their size difference.

"It's the minibot thing, isn't it?" Hubcap dared to relax. "I know of places with all sorts of minibot molds and colors and.. And everything you could ever want! And for practically free!"

He knew the words had been the wrong thing to say as soon as he had said it; the great purple frame before him twitched in an entirely unhappy manner.

"Hmm.." The Decepticons voice was frightening; deep and threatening even when the tone was calm. "Now, why would I want to pay anything at all.."

A claw came up to stroke his chevron again. Hubcap shuddered and his forced smile completely faded away.

"..When what I want is right here?" That single optic shone brightly for a moment.

Then, the monster turned to stand, still clutching a small yellow arm in one three-clawed hand.

"Oh, Primus." Hubcap choked as he was dragged again. "Wait, wait! There's gotta be something!" He dug his heels in to the floor, but all that gave him were aching legs. "Stop!"

The monster didn't stop; instead, he grabbed hold of the much smaller mech in his claws and in to the air. Kicking and flailing did little to help; he quickly found himself on the berth, set down with far too much tenderness.

"Th.. There's gotta be something..!" The minibot choked. The world suddenly felt heavy, clouding his thoughts as the latches on his spark chamber were pried apart; he knew, without a doubt, that there was no way a creature like that was going to fit in his spark chamber. "Stop, please!"

No more words or hesitation came from the Decepticon and struggles proved to be in vain; pleading and yelling had about as much effect as anything else. Before the pain hit, Hubcap had a brief glance of the largest spark chamber he had ever seen.

Then, there was nothing but pain.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Take a breath, hold it in_

_Now look up, let's begin_

_Lesson learned, take a turn_

_Now you come around again_

_All those feelings wrapped around you_

_Hold you down so you can't break through_

_You can't kill me with kindness_

_I don't buy it_

_Strip down, show me flesh and bone_

_'Cause now I own you_

_Now I own you_

- 'I Own You', Shinedown


	3. Chapter 3

Author notes: Another set of details here to those paying attention. Just wait for it..!

Hey, I have something to respond to! Huttah!

Zarak342: Maybe it's because I made small mention of the other five in the author notes? They'll show up eventually, but Hubcap was in there for a LOT longer than the others.

Reka1207: Yes, in the Allspark Almanac II, Carerra and Volks were both male. The Allspark Almanac II did not come out until, oh, TWO MONTHS AGO. I had no idea they were even made for TFA, let alone had a full bio! Only Tap-Out was based on his TFA self. Luckily, Hubcap didn't change much from the G1 self to his TFA self, though.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Sanctus Espiritus_

_Redeem us from our solemn hour_

_Sanctus Espiritus_

_Insanity is all around us_

_In my darkest hours, I could not foresee_

_That the tide could turn so fast to this degree_

_Can't believe my eyes, how can you be so blind?_

_Is the heart of stone, no empathy inside?_

- 'Our Solemn Hour', Within Temptation

**Souvenir: The Six**

**Chapter Three**

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

For his part, Hubcap had been no stranger to interface. In fact, no matter how often he had moved from place to place or how long he had stayed in any one location, the minibot had always made the time to check out all the local bars and clubs. Stress relief, as he had called it; a con-artist like himself needed to unwind every once in a while.

'Every once in a while' wound up being closer to 'as often as possible'; with his constant fleeing and meeting new mechs and femmes, Hubcap really couldn't say just how many he had shared intimate moments with. If he ever took the time to do the math, he likely would have proudly estimated at least in the low triple digits; he couldn't recall ever having been with the same bot more than once.

However, it had been through those joyful moments that he had learned what most of his frame type did. Early on in his escapades, he had learned that the larger the partner, the more uncomfortable he would be the following morning. The simple difference in spark size tended to have that effect.

So, when Hubcap woke up to find that his spark chamber felt as if it were on fire, he wasn't altogether surprised.

He was, however, more fearful than he had ever been in his life; the fear ran deep and strong through his circuitry, especially as he onlined his optics to find a long, dark helm laying so close.

Once he digested what he was seeing as real, Hubcap screamed and pulled back; the monster startled awake at the noise, but was stunned long enough for the yellow minibot to jolt backwards, fall off the berth and then on to the floor.

A wide red optic stared down; there came another shriek as the smaller frame backpedalled in to the nearby corner.

As he slammed his back in to the wall, Hubcap's spark decided to remind him why, exactly, he was afraid; a deep, painful pulse coursed through his chassis.

Frightened blue optics darted around, searching for some sort of weapon, an escape, or even where his chest plate had gone; there was nothing. Terror blanketed all else and the outside air felt entirely too strong against his internals; the minibot wrapped both arms around himself, desperately trying to cover his nudity.

"Ssh." Came a quiet hiss from the monster on the berth. A single cloven pede stepped on to the floor. "It's all right, little one."

"Stay away from me!" Hubcap screamed and tried to melt in to the wall. His intakes gave a hiccup as the memories of the previous night trickled in. "Oh, Primus.. Please let me go, I'll give you whatever you want, just let me go.."

"It's all right." The monster - Shockwave - said again. A step was taken towards his captive; Hubcap shrunk back. "I will not harm you."

"You.." Hubcap sputtered; he couldn't believe what he had just heard. "You.. You won't.. But you _just_..!" Another hiccup. "..Oh, Primus..!"

The next thing that Hubcap knew, he was vomiting on the floor.

When he had the sense to look up again, claws were reaching towards him.

Another scream ripped itself from the minibot; his vocalizer was starting to hurt. He tried to dodge aside and run over the berth, but had forgotten that the furniture was much larger than he was used to; the yellow minibot couldn't scramble over it quickly enough to escape Shockwaves' claws. Three thick digits wrapped themselves around one arm and lifted him in to the air.

For a moment, Hubcap could have sworn that the limbs had stretched impossibly long in order to catch him; had the monster always been that big?

He twisted and flailed, still trying to cover his chest with his free arm, and barely noticed that he was carried over the mess on the floor. Just as he began to believe that he would have a complete emotional breakdown, Shockwave set the struggling minibot on the edge of the berth. Slowly, the claws released him.

Then, something large was shoved in to trembling yellow hands; it took Hubcap a moment to recognize his own chest plate.

With a hiccup, the minibot clutched it. A set of claws still held on to the edge of the precious piece of armor; a tug was given, but the pointed talons did not let go.

"Hmm.." Came from above.

Hubcap looked up with a gulp; that single, terrible optic was staring. A breath caught in his intakes at the new wave of cold, icy fear.

Shockwave knelt down and brought his faceplate close; however, he did not look to his captive's face, but instead brought his line of sight down to the still exposed spark chamber.

With a whimper, Hubcap tried to lean backwards; a set of claws grabbed on to a sloped shoulder guard. All at once, the minibot froze.

"Hmm.." Shockwave murmured. "Curious. Seems I will have to be more careful in the future."

With that, both the grip on his shoulder and chest plate were released. As Shockwave stood and began to walk away, Hubcap snapped his armor back together; he felt as if he couldn't get it on fast enough, quaking as he locked the latches as tight as possible.

He didn't dare look up again. Despite that his spark was now protected, it still ached with pains both phantom and real. A sick rumble from his purged tanks didn't help, either. The minibot began to curl up where he had been set, unsure if he wanted to weep or to think.

He wasn't quite sure which he would have wound up doing and didn't get the chance to find out; as a small cleaning drone moved along the pile of half processed energon, a loud, shrill alarm went off.

The minibot yelped and jumped; he whirled to the source of the blaring chime. For several long seconds, all he could do was stare at the clock hanging on the wall.

"Ah." Shockwave sounded pleased. Frightened, Hubcap turned to stare at the monster. The one-eyed monstrosity dug through a small box. "Here we are."

From the box came a collar that hung loosely on the tip of one claw; Hubcap recognized it as the sort used on pet turbofoxes and the occasional odd organic. It wasn't until the optic turned back in his direction did he make the connection.

He didn't know what he should be doing. The minibot was so deep in to the processor-numbing fear that the sight of the collar didn't bring up much more than the level of terror he was already in. He knew, on some level, that he should protest the humiliation of having to wear such a thing, but was simply far too frightened to try.

The monster had claws, after all; he hadn't used them yet, but that didn't mean he would keep holding them back.

Shockwave only needed to take four steps to get from one side of the room to the other; the metal band was snapped around the minibots throat. For a moment, Hubcap found himself surprised that it fit so well; neither too tight nor too loose.

It took a few seconds longer to notice that a leash made of chain was latched to the front of the collar.

"Come." Came from the monster. A very light tug was given to the leash.

With a shuddering hiccup, Hubcap forced himself off of the berth; he hugged himself as he walked.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Hubcap couldn't stop shaking. Not that he really tried, as terrified as he was, but the trembling was causing more problems than the minibot had thought was possible. He had never known that simply walking could be so difficult or that focus could be lost in such a way.

He tried to simply follow the monster through the halls. It had seemed to be a simple enough order, even if he had stumbled several times from the distraction of the sight of other Autobots being mishandled in a similar manner. He passed a dozen leashed, chained and injured blue-eyed bots before he had to look away.

The minibot tried to ignore what it all implied. He was no military expert or strategist, but even he knew that dozens - if not more - being held captive without anyone knowing was likely not a good thing.

He had never heard of anything like this. He hadn't known Decepticons still existed.

The hallway was covered in doors. Identical and numerous, crashed together so close that Hubcap would have guessed them to be closets or lockers instead of the rooms that were really behind them. The doors weren't numbered and he quickly lost count of how many were passed by as they walked along.

Several turns were taken; after some time - another thing Hubcap has lost track of -, Shockwave walked towards a large set of double doors at a dead end.

Wherever it led, it seemed to be a busy place; several Autobots were chained along the wall and a loud din of noise came muffled from the closed doors. Shockwave paused for a moment as they neared it, glancing at the chained frames.

Then, the Decepticon let out a displeased huff and began to move again. The doors opened automatically; the noise grew louder, a mix of laughter and meaningless chatter.

As soon as they stepped inside, Hubcap knew where they had gone; it was warmer in this very large place with shower heads hanging above cubicles. The smell of perfumes, solvents and the unmistakable charge in the air of cleansing electromagnetic waves could be felt.

A public washracks; they were common enough. Yet, it was somehow a strange sight to see one occupied by Decepticons and made so much larger than Hubcap had ever seen.

There were Autobots chained to the walls here, as well; it appeared that there was a limit as to how many the room could hold. Shockwave glanced around the apparently designated zones with a second displeased huff.

Just as it seemed that the cyclops would give up and head back out to the hall, he looked off in to a far section of the room. "Ah. There we are."

Another Decepticon - the largest, bulkiest thing Hubcap had ever seen - unlatched a much smaller Autobots leash from the wall and began to walk away.

Within a few seconds, Hubcap filled the vacated spot with the leash tethering him in place. Shockwave stepped in to a nearby cubicle.

Hubcap whimpered and curled up, trying to make sense of everything that was happening.

"Hey." Came a whisper from his side. "Hey, you okay?"

Hubcap jumped and turned to stare at the source; another chained mech with strange jets mounted on his shoulders. The minibot simply stared, unable to understand the question.

The jet-mounted Autobot frowned. "You new?"

Hubcap nodded slowly, wide optics taking in the sight of a large, still leaking cut along the other bots entire faceplate.

The frown maintained; the jet-mounted mech didn't seem to notice that the cut was bleeding or that a good bit of it was dripping to the floor. "It's gonna get worse." Blue optics gazed over the trembling minibot with growing shock and wonder. "..You're a civvie, aint'cha?"

"Hubcap."

The minibot jumped in sudden panic as his name was called; the voice was unmistakable now, and the single optic staring in his direction compounded the fear.

The jet-mounted mech leaned as far away as he was able.

Shockwave was still staring, expression as unreadable as it had been the evening before. One claw lifted and the arm attached to it stretched; Hubcap's jaw dropped as it strung itself impossibly long seemingly without the least bit of effort. Stunned as he was, the minibot couldn't bring himself to move as the claws grabbed at the collar around his throat and unlatched it.

The metal clattered to the floor. Hubcap simply sat where he was, baffled and terrified.

Claws moved away as the arm returned to a more normal length. "Hubcap, come here."

The small yellow Autobot froze rigid; he may not have been chained now, but even he knew that escape was impossible with a room full of Decepticons. Still, he couldn't follow the order, far too frightened of what the monster wanted to do.

He doubted he could be assaulted - again - here; too many soaps and radio waves could damage even a spark chamber.

"Hubcap." Shockwave repeated; the minibot decided he didn't like how his name sounded when spoken by that deep, terrible voice. "I won't say it again."

Looking around for some sort of help, all that came to Hubcap's view were Decepticons staring in a mix of amusement and confusion. Other Autobots stared, as well, but they seemed to be more lethargic than anything else.

With a shuddering whimper, Hubcap staggered to his pedes and forced himself to walk the seemingly long distance to the cubicle Shockwave occupied. Claws grasped his shoulder as soon as he was close enough and moved him under the solvent spray.

All at once, Hubcap knew what was happening. He moaned and covered his face as he tried to pretend he wasn't being cleaned and shined in front of all these people by a monster thrice his size.

He could still feel the soft ache around his throat from the collar. The memories from the previous night were still holding strong, as well, pulsing to the pain underneath his chest plate. With this new humiliation and the reality of the situation crashing together, the minibot couldn't stop the breakdown that had been building since waking up in that cell the day before.

With what would have otherwise been a soothing set of electrical waves washing over him and what may have been an oil pouring over his frame, Hubcap quaked and barely kept himself from collapsing.

The sobs soon poured out.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Are they themselves to blame_

_The misery, the pain?_

_Didn't we let go, allowed it, let it grow?_

_Sanctus Espiritus_

_Redeem us from our solemn hour_

_Sanctus Espiritus_

_Insanity is all around us_

_Sanctus Espiritus_

_Is this what we deserve?_

_Can we break free_

_From chains of never-ending agony?_

- 'Our Solemn Hour', Within Temptation


	4. Chapter 4

Author notes: So, real life has apparently killed my writing time. Oh, real life, why must you interfere so much..?

Also, it seems the gods of FFNet have made another strange edit. I sort of understand the 'no run on sentences' thing, as it could be a website. I don't really get the 'remove standard line breaks' thing, but what the hey. Now, it seems if I end a sentence in both a question mark and an exclamation mark - like a shouted question - one of the punctuation marks are removed. This baffles me.

SO. With a test: Test one? Test two! Test three? Test four? And test five !

Let's see how that works.

Things should speed along a bit now, just had to get some of the basic 'this is how it starts' stuff out of the way. I estimate five chapters more of Hubcap. Let's see if I'm correct.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Fireflies are flying higher_

_They draw their wings up in the sky_

_Something I cannot read now_

_For my vision is blurred_

_We all are ruled by our fears below_

_Higher high_

_We are stuck and can't get out again_

_There's more than we deny_

_And there's more than meets the eye_

- 'Higher High', Epica

**Souvenir: The Six**

**Chapter Four**

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Hubcap had bathed in public, before. In fact, he couldn't recall more than a spare few instances that he had cleaned himself in any sort of privacy. It simply wasn't the way most people did things. For most of Cybertron's population, public washracks were the norm and had long since been set up as a common sight around the planet.

No matter what district Hubcap has found himself in, there had always been at least one washrack station. As far as he had known, only the wealthy ever really bothered to privatize something as ordinary as cleaning; most bots went to the same bathhouses that their creators had gone to and that was that. The concept that it should be anything different never crossed their processors.

Although, considering the con-artist that he was, Hubcap had always avoided the no-cost washracks in the poorer districts; thievery, even of one's own armor, wasn't unheard of in those places and they often smelled strangely, besides.

What made the present so intolerable and humiliating wasn't that he was being cleansed in front of other optics at all; he was used to that. It wasn't even the claws running over his frame and picking at every scar and scuff caused by the previous night, although that was a small horror in itself.

What truly set the minibot in to a shaking mess of scattered, panic-filled thoughts were the comments.

"Oh-ho!" A leering Decepticon from the next cubicle over laughed. "Looks like Shockwave finally got himself a little frag-toy!"

"A minibot, even!" Another roared as if it were the funniest joke he had ever heard. "Hey, are they as tight as everyone says?"

"Hey, Shockwave!" Someone from deeper in the washracks yelled. "Can the rest of us have a go at him some time?" Whoops, cheers and laughter echoed the suggestion.

Shockwave didn't so much as twitch; he simply kept on cleaning as if he hadn't heard any of it.

Hubcap covered his audios and tried to pretend he wasn't there.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

When the collar was latched around his throat again, Hubcap didn't fight it, although he did shudder at the feel of it; the need to escape the washracks was strong enough to override any humiliation he may have felt. The continued snickers and leers were all but impossible to ignore or pretend away.

The leash was pulled and he followed. He didn't know where he was being taken, now, and he didn't particularly care; all that mattered, with his mind numb and shellshocked, was to get out of that room as quickly as possible. All he had the sense to do was to follow the monster on the other end of the chain.

As he walked, he wrapped his arms around himself in a tight embrace and nearly stumbled on his own shaking legs.

For a time - and time was another thing that he was quickly losing track of -, the halls that passed by quieted in to a much more tolerable hum. Words were made indecipherable with distance and the softer, more casual tones. The minibot didn't look up once, gaze focused on the floor in front of him.

Along the way, a few puddles of partially dried pink were passed; a shudder coursed through his frame at every new sighting.

Suddenly, volume exploded; the minibot's helm shot up in alarm, only to realize that it was coming from an open door that Shockwave had approached. Beyond it were dozens upon dozens of Decepticons, mingling and chatting in what looked like an otherwise ordinary cafeteria.

With recognition came relief; it was only a mess hall. He couldn't think of any danger or humiliation that could happen here; nothing like the washracks of a few moments before, at any rate.

They stepped inside; the cafeteria was large but not spacious, made crowded by numerous long tables and a high number of tall and bulky frames. The only place that seemed comfortable to sit at was a pair of highly ornate, decorative tables in a separate alcove.

A single slit optic glanced around. After several seconds, cloven pedes made their way to one of the tables against a wall.

The table was only half filled; at Shockwaves approaching form, every set of the half dozen or so pairs of red optics widened in what looked like terror and stopped what they had been doing.

Shockwave walked to the wall by the table and clasped the tail end of the leash to a waiting hook.

As he did so, the table quickly cleared out; the Decepticons all but bolted, running in panic.

What sounded like a pleased chuckle left the monster when he noticed. Then, he began to walk away. Hubcap followed the one-eyed Decepticon with his sight, confused, before he spotted the energon dispenser that Shockwave headed towards.

The tables on either side and behind Shockwave's chosen station quickly found themselves empty, as well. Hubcap might have found it funny if he hadn't been where he was. Instead, he gulped, wondering what it meant when even other Decepticons were terrified of your captor.

It didn't take long for the monster in question to return. When he did, a single cube was set down by the tethered minibot before he took a seat at the vacated table.

Hubcap unashamedly grabbed for the cube; he hadn't refueled since before the Autotroopers had burst in to his apartment what felt like a very long time ago.

As he drank the cube, he wondered if he would ever see that apartment - or any parts of Cybertron - ever again.

With the depressing thoughts came a new flare of panic; the minibot had begun to understand what was going on and he was terrified that he couldn't escape it. The monster that had 'claimed' him certainly seemed to have things set up just for a spark slave of his size; the collar simply fit far too snug to imply otherwise.

Spark slavery was a horrible business; he had skimmed the edges of that world only once, when he had first begun his life of crime, and had been subsequently terrified enough to never get that deep in to such things ever again. That situation had him on the other end of the mess; the idea of being the object abused was something entirely different.

He had to find a way out of here.

A flash of color caught his optics; Hubcap looked up and over his partially empty cube and quickly found what had caught the corner of his vision.

Across the mess hall, chained and bound in much the same fashion as he was, sat a familiar mech. The faceplate that had earlier resembled a vacuum nozzle now sported a deep, bleeding crack all along it.

Hubcap openly gaped; Searchlight stared back with a similar surprise.

They were too far from each other to communicate properly. Still, at the sadness and realization that slowly crossed the other minibots' faceplate, Hubcap realized that the bot that he had met the day before was in exactly the same situation that he was in.

All of them must have been; the entire batch of civilians must have been spread out and claimed, as well.

Hubcap downed the rest of his cube in a single gulp, unable to stop himself from trembling.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

After the monster had finished his cube, the leash was strung on again. From there, they returned to the room with the ill-fitting furniture.

Hubcap couldn't help but whimper as he was led inside and the collar unlatched; for several terrified moments, he stared at the berth nudged against the wall and wondered if he would be attacked again. For all he knew, the monster might prefer some after-breakfast activity.

The minibot didn't move as the collar and leash were set aside. He stood there, shook and waited.

"I will return in a few megacycles."

That was not what he was expecting; stunned, Hubcap glanced up to find that the monster was already at the door. Then, the Decepticon simply left; as the door slid shut, it let out a loud 'click' as it locked shut.

Hubcap stared at the door in a stupor; it took several long minutes to understand what had just happened.

When he did, a shudder coursed through him; now, he knew exactly how the monster operated. It made sense, in a twisted, depraved sort of way; clean him, feed him, and then lock him away until it would be time to have more 'fun'.

A small garbage bin was against the wall; the minibot had the sense to grab for it before he began to vomit.

He allowed himself to heave dryly for a short while in to the now filthy bin before he pulled himself back; he had to find a way out.

So, he began to investigate the room much as he had the day before; this time, there were no delusions of pretend or wishes that it was all a dream; the pain in his chest was far too real for it to be anything else.

The only door in and out was locked; pounding his fists against it did nothing but make his wrists hurt. There was a ventilation shaft underneath the chaise and against the wall; with a cry of dismay, Hubcap found that it was far too small for even his frame to fit through. Although, he did give it a solid kick for good measure.

He had even checked behind the shelf of datapads and inside the shelf itself, hoping beyond hope for some sort of secret passage like all the villains in the movies had. Again, there was nothing.

As the hours ticked by, the terror only grew; Hubcap began to sob with the knowledge that the monster was going to return and there was only one thing that he was after.

The door was kicked and punched again in a fit of desperation; the minibot didn't try to stop himself from screaming wordlessly or from crying. The tantrum lasted what felt like a long time.

When he was spent, Hubcap curled up in the corner and waited, faceplate buried in his knees.

Then, there came a long period of silence compounded further by his panic-ridden thoughts.

Eventually, the door slid open again. The footsteps that came after that sounded very loud.

Hubcap didn't look up; instead, he curled tighter, expecting the claws to grab at him and for another assault to occur.

For several very long minutes, nothing happened. Hesitantly, he looked up.

The minibot gaped in disbelief to find that the monster was lounging on the chaise, seemingly relaxed, and holding a datapad in his claws.

At first, he was stupefied in incredulity. Then, anger began to brew; however, he was far too frightened to express it. So, he stayed where he was, curled up and silent.

Everything was far too quiet; the only noise were the clicks of the claws on the datapad itself and the occasional hum of some circuitry in the walls.

After what his chronometer told him was exactly three quarters of a megacycle, the clock above the berth let out a wild, unhappy-sounding alarm. As soon as it chimed, Shockwave glanced up and slid off the chaise.

Claws slid the datapad back in to the shelf. Then, cloven pedes made their way towards the unmoving Autobot; Hubcap tensed as terror flared.

He had known this was coming; still, as the claws gently wrapped themselves around one yellow arm and lifted him to his pedes, the minibot began to hiccup again.

"Oh, Primus, please don't, it still hurts from yesterday!" Hubcap tugged at his arm with a whimper.

With some surprise on the Autobots' end, the words seemed to have an effect; Shockwave froze mid-stride. Then, with frightening speed, the much taller Decepticon whirled to kneel in front of his prisoner.

Hubcap jolted; he couldn't tell if his captor was angry or otherwise. Not with that single optic and no expression he could make out.

He did know, however, that the claws that grabbed at the latches closing his chest together likely intended terrible things. He hiccuped and tried to squirm, but the claws held firm; it didn't take long to unlatch his chest plate from the rest of his chassis and toss it aside.

Tremors coursed through the minibot as that single optic loomed close, peering at his spark chamber. The shaking only increased as what sounded like a snarl evoked itself from the monster.

"Wonderful." The thick sarcasm came as a shock. "It's my own fault, I suppose." The monster grabbed the tossed piece of yellow armor and began to set it back on; Hubcap could only stare in shock.

The claws, however, did not let go; as the monster stood back up, he continued to pull the minibot towards the berth. The small Autobot struggled to no avail.

He expected for Shockwave to make another show of removing his chest armor again; allowing it back on must have been only a brief reprieve for further torment. He expected there to be a repeat of the previous night and for the terrible, horrible pain to come back.

Instead, he was set back on the berth and the monster laid on top of him. Shockwave grabbed for the minibot, but only to hold him close; there was no molestation against his spark chamber or even the armor above it.

"You are a lucky one." The monster whispered from above. "I will allow you to heal. Not many of our slaves have that luxury."

Then, the large, nightmarish red optic began to dim and power down. Not too long after, the Decepticon's intakes slowed in to what could only be recharge.

Hubcap simply laid there, shocked for several seconds. Then, he squirmed, trying to free himself from the heavy frame on top of him; the claws holding him close only curled tighter around him, despite that Shockwave couldn't have been awake.

With a whimper, all that the minibot could do was lie there and try to fall in to recharge as well.

He didn't sleep for the entire night.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Fortune, fairy tales_

_We've all been told_

_Our pattern, never built, never begin_

_I can tell you there can't always be_

_A happy end to every tale_

_We all are ruled by our fears below_

_Higher high_

_We are stuck and can't get out again_

_There's more than we deny_

_And there's more than meets the eye_

- 'Higher High', Epica


	5. Chapter 5

Author notes: Really, people, really? Not ONE review for last chapter? Not even a 'this is what I didn't like'? A flame? Nada?

REVIEW, PEOPLE. It keeps my muses alive! Grrr!

... Grrr.

..Rrr. Yes.

..Please? T_T

Special thanks to BBPuyo, who this is all for anyway, and Swindle's Log for sending me a nice, long, thoughtful and detailed review that actually got me working on this part.

Blah on the rest of you. XD

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_You've stripped me down, the layers fall like rain_

_It's over now, just innocence_

_And instinct still remain_

_You watched me while I slowly disappeared_

_Take it all away, take it all away_

_Take it all away, take it all away_

- 'Take It All Away', Red

**Souvenir: The Six**

**Chapter Five**

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Hubcap felt as if he had missed something important.

It was the morning of the third day when the strange feeling filtered through his processor. It wasn't as if he _hadn't _been paying attention since this had all began; fear and pain had practically forced him in to hypersensitivity, every sound and action taken in with hope of escape.

Then why, the Autobot questioned himself, did he still feel as if something terribly important had passed by? Try as he might - and he certainly did, clinging to this new distraction as if it were a lifeline -, he could not grasp it.

Although, the claws holding his frame were certainly making thinking difficult.

The night had been spent being held much like he had been the evening before; this time, the minibot had managed to convince himself in to an unsteady recharge. Despite the creeping tendrils of panic that never seemed to fade away, he had rested well enough; that is, until the alarm clock let out a shrieking cry and startled him in to consciousness. The grip around his body quickly reminded him where he was; a scream was bit down.

The collar was latched on without much fanfare or struggling; resistance had done little to aid him so far, and he still feared the claws that lingered so close. Suspecting what was coming also lessened the terror just enough for his mind to settle again.

As the leash pulled him through the halls, his processor swirled around unanswerable questions; what did the feeling that something had been missed refuse to fade away?

Even as they arrived at the washracks and an empty cubicle was found, Hubcap continued to be troubled. He sat stiffly in his pondering, trying to grasp what lay just beyond his proverbial reach.

Another Autobot was already leashed up nearby. Hubcap glimpsed a white and gray paint job but didn't look too closely; with the washracks set up the way they were, he doubted that he would be able to see any Autobot for long enough to have any real conversation.

Besides which, the monster was probably going to clean him again; Hubcap shuddered at recollection and waited with tense limbs.

Long minutes passed; Shockwave did not call his name.

As time crept by, Hubcap began to relax; confusion sprung by the change from the day before. Still, he decided not to question it and began to settle in to the tile floor.

Then, everything became quiet.

It was a sudden silence, the sort that was a shock by how quickly it fell; the casual chatter from bathing Decepticons stopped abruptly. It was as if a void had formed.

Alarmed, blue optics looked up; every faceplate - prisoner and captor alike - all had turned to stare at the open door at the front of the room with a foreboding air.

A burly, hulking thing with the largest cannons Hubcap had ever seen stood there. Narrow red optics took stock of the room with a sweeping gaze.

Everything was still. No one moved.

Then, the new arrival shrugged. "Carry on."

Immediately, the noise returned; conversations resumed as if nothing at all had happened.

Hubcap sat there, boggled by what he had just witnessed. It took a moment to realize that the tall, widely set Decepticon had the entirely wrong voice. "..Was that a _femme_?"

A short chuckle came from next to him. "Yeah. Commander Strika. Femme from the Pit itself, if you ask me."

Startled that someone had answered him at all, Hubcap half jumped and half turned; for a long moment, he could do nothing more than stare at the leashed Autobot at his side.

White, gray and covered in scars; he winced at the sight of so many wounds.

Then, that feeling came back; the sense that something important had gone by.

What was his own mind trying to tell him?

"Wait.. Commander?" A blind question in the dark.

"Yeah.." The beaten Autobot slurred slightly. "S'high rankin' washracks, here. The commanders usually got private places to get all shiny."

"..Wait, so.." Hubcap rubbed his face and tried to make everything click. "Everyone here is a high rank?"

"Lieutenants, most part." A confused shrug.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

A short laugh choked itself out of the minibot's vocalizer; the startlingly different reactions that Shockwave received the day before - something he hadn't even noticed at the time, drowning in mind-altering fear the way he had been - now made sense. He had feared, once he had been alone to think again, that the caution in the cafeteria had been due to some terrible thing Shockwave must have done; to realize it had simply been about rank and nothing else somehow seemed like a great relief.

It was all about rank.

This new knowledge actually helped to calm the small Autobot; this was the first piece of information that he could use. For what felt like the first time in forever, the wheels in his head had begun to move, churning with new inspiration.

It was a familiar, joyful feeling; it was the same rush that came with a new scam or idea.

Shockwave never called his name and never cleaned him; Hubcap didn't think to question why, instead focused on what went through his own processor.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Power; that's all that it came down to. It was all that governed the Decepticons in this place. The need to take and to have set them apart from each other; those that had the ambition, cunning and darker ways excelled whereas their brethren did not. The stronger and fiercer rose through the ranks; a stark difference from the way Autobots ran things.

The question was, Hubcap asked himself, how could he use this knowledge to his advantage? There was nothing else here that could help him; no amount of credits had swayed Shockwave before, and he doubted the monster would have a sudden change of spark in that regard. Information was all that he had.

He had to find a new way to play this game; he needed to learn more. So much more depended on how he did this than any other time before; his very life was on the line.

The clock let out a cry; several seconds later, the monster that occupied his thoughts strolled inside the small apartment.

Hubcap glanced up from the corner he had nestled in to; claws grazed the datapads on the shelf. For now, the minibot was ignored; the novel was chosen and the chaise was sat upon.

There was nothing but silence; even the tapping of talons on the sleek metal datapad barely made an impact in to the suffocating quiet. Hubcap stared at the one-eyed beast with a tremble.

He needed to learn more; the best way to get information was from the source itself. At least, that's what logic told him; fear and self-preservation warred with it, churning deep in his fuel tanks from indecision.

The louder part of his mind argued that there was nothing else that could be done; he was already a prisoner and a spark slave, there weren't many worse places he could be.

Shakily, the minibot rose to his pedes. Pushed on by the hope of freedom if he succeeded, slow steps were taken closer to the chaise.

He had to remind himself that one foot went in front of the other; one step at a time.

It didn't take long to get there.

Hubcap was terrified; still, he pushed himself on. It was either this or wait for the monster to assault him again.

"..Lieutenant Shockwave, sir..?" Hubcap gulped and forced his tone to be civil; it was less likely that he would be struck if he was respectful. At least, that's what made sense to frazzled thoughts.

He had never thought that he could feel so small.

That terrible red optic swung up to look at him; with no visible facial features, expression was difficult to gauge. Still, the Decepticon somehow managed to air surprise. "Yes?"

He wasn't being struck or snarled at; Hubcap took that as a good sign.

Another gulp was taken in a futile attempt to physically swallow the fear. "Why.. Did you pick me out of all the bots in that cell..?"

The slitted optic flickered once. Then, it's gaze swung down to look back at the datapad.

Just as the Autobot thought that he was going to be ignored, Shockwave's vocalizer piped up. "If you must know, I have a certain fondness for your type of protoform mold. Your kind is not captured often, as well."

That was more information than he had hoped to gain; a trill of hope lit the minibot's processor with what he had learned.

With this new joy came the need to push it further. "But there was another minibot in the cell with me."

What looked like it might have been a shrug lifted Shockwave's shoulders. "Those of my rank are only allowed one, and you were more physically attractive than the other."

A minute shudder coursed down his back strut; Hubcap could have gone his entire life without ever hearing that he was attractive from such a creature. Still, this was delightfully more than he had expected; he had hoped for, at best, some crude or scalding remark, not this conversational foothold. This was something he could use.

He had to fight not to grin. "You must've been waiting a long time, I bet."

That eye looked up again; this time, the optic was slightly narrowed. "..That I have." Hesitation.

Hesitation meant suspicion; now, the game was familiar. Hubcap knew how to play this as well as he knew the back of his own servo. "I know of places that have bots of my mold _trained_ to act however you want them to!"

It might have been the same deal he had tried to pitch on the first night, but he had the feeling that he knew what to do, this time. At least, he hoped he did.

Hubcap allowed himself to smile. "I can give you locations, credits to pay it all off with, places only the best of the best go to! You could have your pick of any minibot mold in any color and even have them _dote_ on you!" Which was more than he was willing to offer; a shudder at the concept of willingly going to berth with this monster was held back. "You'll be the envy of every other bo - er, con around, and it'll all be free! You just have to let me go, sneak me out or something, and I'll show you the way! What do you say, huh?"

The return of the salesman smile; it had taken years to perfect the expression. Hope sprung with it.

The angular faceplate that haunted his nightmares tilted ever so slightly to the right; for a very brief moment, Hubcap trembled.

It wasn't enough; he had to sweeten the deal, he had to make it more appealing.

"M-maybe your superiors will even be impressed by the haul of trained bots you bring in -"

"Perhaps." The interruption quieted the minibot faster than anything ever had before. "But likely not. Regardless of any activity I would personally invest in such a hunt, I would gain nothing but the ire of those above my station for wasting valuable time and resources to chase a _prostitution ring_." The last two words were spat as if they were something vile.

Stunned, Hubcap took a step back; he hadn't expected the sale to fall apart that quickly. He had been almost certain that he had done it, that time; the hope had simply risen that far.

"But.. but.." The minibot sputtered, trying to think of some other way to entice the Decepticon in to granting him his freedom. "What do you _want_? What will it take to get me out of here?"

Now, the optic outright glared; there was clear annoyance radiating off of the one-eyed monster. Hubcap took a few more steps back, realizing with a terrified jolt that his desperation had pushed too far.

"Behave, little one." Hard and threatening. "Or you will be corrected."

Hubcap shrunk at the violent tone; frightened, he backed away in to the corner he had forced himself from and curled up on the floor.

Shockwave glared at his prisoner for several seconds longer. Then, he looked back to the datapad.

A week later - and a second, shrieking assault on his spark - Hubcap gave up on words altogether.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Circling the pain inside my soul_

_I reached inside your silence_

_To steal what you won't show_

_I tried to find the answers in my fears_

_But what was found is lost again_

_As soon as it appeared_

_I'm breaking, I can't do this on my own_

_Can you hear me screaming out?_

_Am I all alone?_

_You take away, you take away_

_You take away, you take away_

- 'Take It All Away', Red


	6. Chapter 6

Author notes: Okay, okay, I'm sorry! T_T I know it's been over a WEEK since I updated and that's the longest I have EVER let one of my fics stay idle, but, gaaah. I work two jobs. *cry*

..I also have too many hobbies. Blaagh.

Respond time!

Not so Dark: There's a long complicated reason behind the prostitution thing. I probably won't be able to explain it, so, the short of it is: My brain insists that a group of Decepticons, at some point, went after a prostitution ring. The entire group promptly were infected with a serious, humiliating virus. Something about paint chipping off. Not really sure what my brain means by it. Also, Shockwave goes longer than a couple of days, sometimes, if it means not killing his slave. XD

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Thoughts were spinning in my head_

_So many things left unsaid_

_All I wanna do_

_Is trade this life for something new_

_Holding on to what I haven't got_

_Sitting in an empty room_

_Trying to forget the past_

_This was never meant to last_

_I wish it wasn't so.._

_Wishing for the end to come_

_Wishing I had strength to stand_

_This is not what I had planned.._

- 'Waiting for the End', Linkin Park

**Souvenir: The Six**

**Chapter Six**

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

In the coming weeks, attempts to find a way to escape had failed time and time again; at first, they had upset the captive Autobot with every failure and sent deep waves of depression through the yellow minibot. More than once, Hubcap found himself weeping and unable to stop himself; hopelessness, it seemed, pressed in from all sides.

It didn't stop him from trying, however; every solar cycle spent alone in Shockwaves' apartment was used to try and leave it. Escape became a ritual; it was something urged on by what was left of his pride.

Despite knowing that he could not fit through the vent in the wall, he tried to do so regardless. Every afternoon, the minibot would take the grate off of the wall and try to fit through the small opening. He had even removed his armor in the attempt to do so, skimping down to nothing more than his basic protoform and the armor protecting his spark. More often than not, he couldn't fit more than his head inside.

After that daily failure - and nearly getting stuck on occasion-, the only door in and out of his prison was pried and clawed at. It never opened; not until the alarm would chime and Shockwave would return, at least. Hubcap even pounded at the door to no avail, barreling against it with all his strength.

When the door failed, he tried to dig his way out. Although the electricity powering the stingers that every bot with his protoform mold came equipped with had been removed, the weapons themselves were still there. The Decepticons had even gone so far as to dull the tips; still, he tried to use them against the seams in the door, ramming them in every little tiny hole and crack he could find.

Overall, the daily ritual took hours to get through; typically, the minibot wasn't satisfied with his failure until bare cycles before the alarm would sound.

Not even the pain in his spark chamber dissuaded Hubcap from his endeavors; although he hissed in pain and limped on the days directly following every assault, he clung to the need and urge to get out.

It was one of the few things that kept him sane. At least, he believed it was; he had seen several crazed Autobots in various parts of the Decepticon stronghold, and he did not want to fall in to the same pit of madness.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

As time went on, Hubcap's body began to adjust. It took nearly a year to realize that his spark chamber was healing faster than it had at the beginning; for the first few months, he was assaulted, at best, once a week. He had hated those nights as much as he could hate anything, but hadn't thought to keep track of how often they had occurred.

Perhaps it was due to the seemingly random intervals of the assaults that caused such a slow realization; perhaps it was from the need to try and pretend that it wasn't happening at all. It wasn't until the monster - and even after all this time, he still couldn't think of Shockwave as anything else - crooned his delight days earlier than expected did he really notice that things had changed.

The attacks had tripled in frequency and he hadn't even noticed; Hubcap couldn't even begin to guess what that said about his current mental state.

He didn't know how long he could take the abuse before he lost his mind; a year in to the monotonous, terrible schedule of loneliness, depression and pain passed on by before he made the decision to delete his own chronometer.

He didn't know how much longer he would be kept against his will, but he couldn't bear to keep track of it.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Hubcap couldn't tell one day from the next with the loss of his chronometer; for the most part, he was happy with this. With insanity lingering just beyond the constant stress, pain and fear, pretending he had only been there for a short amount of time kept some worries at bay. Pretending that he hadn't been gone too long helped him believe that, perhaps, he could escape and slip back in to his old life.

He didn't think about the fact that he had very few friends before he had been captured, none of which would risk trying to rescue him. If he ever thought about it, he would have to admit that the Autotroopers were more likely to leave him there to rot than anything else should they somehow find out what was going on.

In the end, he didn't think about any of those things at all.

Without the passage of time, escape still seemed like a possibility; if no days had gone by, then that meant that not everything had been tried. At least, to the Autobot's changed logic, this became true.

However, it was during one of those new nameless days that hope suddenly flared again.

His stingers had been prying at a seam in the door that he had attempted to jam open countless times before. The thin space between door and wall had not been altered by repeated attempt; at least, not that he could readily see.

So, it came with a great deal of surprise when, after something in the seam made a loud 'crack', the door slid open.

At first, Hubcap could only stand there and stare at the hallway beyond, stunned that the door had opened at all.

Then, what he had done crashed through his processor. His intakes caught in his throat and, barely making a sound at all, he peeked his head past the open door to look down one end of the hall.

No one was there; turning the other way yielded the same results.

There wasn't a single Decepticon or Autobot slave that he could see. With glee sprouting at this discovery, he took two steps out of the door.

The metal slid shut behind him; it locked with a loud 'click'. There was no turning back, now; he probably couldn't get back inside even if he had wanted to.

Thanks to morning after morning of being led along, Hubcap knew that the way to the washracks were to the right; to the left, however, was a complete mystery. After a moment of indecision, he turned to the left and slunk along the hall.

He didn't run; he knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to react in time should he spot anyone approaching. So, he took it slow, recalling, of all things, spy movies and fiction to guide him.

There continued to be no sight of any other creature - save for a single cleaning drove that caused the minibot to jump in terror - for what felt to be a very long time. The numerous identical doors that he passed were silent.

Two random corner turns were taken before he spotted it; an amazing sight that was one of the greatest things Hubcap had ever seen. It spurred delight and ignited hope.

It was a garbage chute.

Now throwing caution to the wind, Hubcap ran for it; miraculously, the handle was within reach despite his small stature. A laugh began to bubble as he pulled it open and found that he could, in fact, fit inside. A horrible, vile stench flew out as soon as the latch had opened; the minibot didn't care, ignoring the smell to the best of his ability and climbing in.

Fingertips clung to the end of the chute as it squeaked closed; it was dark on the inside, smelled worse than Hubcap would have thought possible, and he couldn't see the bottom. Blue optics stared down in to the dark abyss with a gulp.

He shut his optics, sent a quiet prayer, and let go.

The fall was a long one; enough seconds went by for the minibot to internally berate himself for not thinking of a better plan before he even began to see a light. As soon as he did, he braced himself for impact.

When he finally hit the ground, he hit hard; the world flared in agony. He could have sworn he had even slipped in to stasis, but he couldn't be certain and had no way to tell. Regardless, when he lit his optics again, the only thing that met his vision were mounds of garbage.

Empty cubes, broken machinery, vile liquids and things he couldn't even begin to identify were all that he could see. With a hiss, Hubcap tried to stagger upright, moaning a little as he did so.

Red warnings flashed in his HUD; it took a moment of this distraction before he realized that a knee was bending in the wrong direction.

"..Wonderful." Hubcap groaned; he glanced down at the leg in question as he shifted it from side to painful side. He certainly wouldn't be able to walk properly, but at least he had survived the fall.

The minibot glanced up at the chute he had fallen from and then looked around; there was nothing but garbage. No Decepticons, no drones; only piles upon piles of endless filth. He hoped that the garbage wasn't recycled or simply left there; if the putrid waste was ejected from the ship in some manner, he could find the exit hatch, wait for the next expulsion and then go with it.

It didn't matter where the garbage went; even deep space was better than where he was now.

Hubcap took a deep breath to steady himself; he promptly choked on the stench. Then, he began to hobble around the piles of trash, hoping for some sign or clue to show him the way.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

"What the frag was _that_?"

Hubcap jumped at the unexpected voice. As he did so, the injured leg screamed at him; a cry was bit back as he turned, alarmed that someone may have spotted him.

"Seriously, mech.." A second voice. "Garbage falls from the pipes all the time. Stop being so jumpy."

"I'm not jumpy!" A whine. "I'm.. I'm just doing my job!"

The voices were coming from the next hill over, obscured by the large pile of garbage in the way. Terrified, Hubcap frantically looked around for any sort of cover.

Not finding anything of particular use, he dove in to the nearest pile of trash; he squirmed in the attempt to cover himself from view.

"No, really, didn't you hear that?"

"For spark's sake, didn't you see the trash _falling from the sky_? Of _course_ it makes noise!"

"I'm going to check it out..!"

"Oh, for the love of.. Are you _serious_?"

Hubcap prayed that the annoyed Decepticon - and they had to be Decepticons - would win the argument. Underneath foul smelling refuse, the minibot quaked and barely dared to peek through the mess around him.

The unmistakable beams of a flashlight passed by his hiding spot; Hubcap shrunk back, pressing deeper in to the dingy cave his hasty actions had made.

"Mech. Seriously. The overhead lights give us enough -"

"Twitcher, will you shut up?" The surprisingly small gray Decepticon that came in to view was somehow not what Hubcap had expected. "I swear, I heard something!"

The burly green one that followed, however, was. With the frighteningly small distance between them, the minibot could clearly see the annoyance that crossed a dark faceplate. "The last time you got this jumpy, Midnighter, you found a bloated petro-rabbit. The time before that, it was a malfunctioning energon dispenser. Frankly, this is starting to piss me off."

"I'm not jumpy!" The gray mech repeated; his arms flailed with his words and sent the flashlight's beam all over the place. It crossed the mound hiding the Autobot for barely a second. "I _heard something_, okay? It -"

Then, one of the overhead chutes opened up; a pile of broken equipment crashed on to the mound around Hubcap. The garbage shifted and quaked with the new weight, sending quite a bit of the trash falling and tumbling aside. As it did so, the entire front of the small mountain avalanched; alongside empty cans and shattered machinery, Hubcap fell.

No one made a sound; both Decepticon and Autobot stilled, staring at each other in shocked silence.

Then, all pit broke loose.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Hubcap didn't even try to hold back the sobs as he was led through the halls. He wept, intakes hiccuping, as he stumbled along with an injured leg and shackled wrists. Each of his arms were held by one of the Decepticons that had found him; even if they hadn't, he wouldn't have tried to run.

In the year he had been held captive, it was the farthest he had ever been to real escape; somehow, he knew that it was the farthest he would ever get. He had lost his chance.

Shockwave was waiting in the apartment-turned-prison, arms folded and armor much too dark.

The two Decepticons dragging him along didn't say a word; they simply shoved him forward.

Nothing was said; claws grabbed hold of an arm and pulled him inside. As the door slid shut, the monster glowered, purple paint deepening in to a dark ebony black.

Hubcap looked up with the intent to glare; instead, all he managed to do was whimper.

That hated single optic continued to glare. After a tense few seconds, words were finally snarled from the towering Decepticon.

"You ruined your paint work."

Hubcap sobbed.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_This is not the end_

_This is not the beginning_

_Just a voice like a riot_

_Rocking every revision_

_But you listen to the tone_

_And the violent rhythm_

_And though the words sound steady_

_Something's empty's within' 'em_

_'Cuz we're living at the mercy_

_Of the pain and the fear_

_Until we dead it_

_Forget it, let it all disappear_

_Holding on to what I havn't got!_

- 'Waiting for the End', Linkin Park


	7. Chapter 7

Authors notes: I hate you, reality. I hate you and your work and your jobs so much. I don't even notice time passing by anymore, I'm so busy. Grrr, I say, GRRR!

..I need more hours in my day. Sigh.

On we go, even though I know no one is reading this. Because I get no reviews. BUT I PERSEVERE. AHAH. YES.

*thud*

..Though, I'll say this to Swindle's Log: Told ya. :D

_1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Declining, all color fading_

_Defining, time coming for me_

_Rescinding, my inspiration_

_Receding consciousness_

_Back in the day, I can recall that_

_My thoughts were unclouded and sage_

_There was no black staining the walls of_

_My memories_

_Now there's a haze_

_Pushing me sideways_

_And leaving me nothing to gain_

_Taking me back, locking me cold_

_In disparity_

_Where was I meant to be?_

_I feel I'm lost in a dream_

_Long for the day I can be myself_

- 'Unleashed', Epica

**Souvenir: The Six**

**Chapter Seven**

_1 1 1 1 1 1_

Everything hurt.

This wasn't an altogether unusual sensation; especially not in the early morning hour that it was. On a good day, the pain would start up at a tolerable hum that coursed out from his spark chamber, beating in tempo as the day went on; usually, he was able to ignore it. Even as the day would progress, the pain - although constant - would be distant.

However, this was not one of those good days; the night before has begun with the declaration of healed internal circuitry and had ended in gentle touches, moans, and a cataclysm of pain that had knocked him right in to stasis.

In short, Hubcap already knew that the day was going to be a bad one.

It was still far too early; weary blue optics looked up - past the all too sharp claws that held him underneath a heavy, hot chassis - to gaze at the sated, recharging faceplate hovering above. In the near darkness, illuminated only by his own systems and the decorative clock hanging overhead, all that he could see were shadows and the bare reflection of his own optics.

He hated him. He hated the monster more than he had ever hated anyone. Yet, the fear was always there, as well.

With a silent cringe, the minibot averted his gaze and tried to think of anything else. Forcing his processor to think of other things, he had learned, was usually the best way to deal with these early morning reboots. Trying to imagine himself someplace else or digging up a more joyful memory file helped in these miserable times.

There was nothing else he could think to do, at any rate; it was either distraction or depression.

The clock claimed there was less than a fifth of a megacycle until the usual day would begin; the same miserable cleansing that always happened on these mornings followed by the typical cube ration and ending in hours of solitude and the usual useless escape attempts.

Then, it was either horrible pain or the suffocation of being held.

The same schedule each and every day, more or less; he was starting to get used to it all. Hubcap wondered if this adjustment was a bad thing; distantly, he felt as if it had taken a long time to reach such a point. Years or decades, he couldn't say.

He was glad not to know how much time had passed; it was easier not to know.

Soon enough, the clock cried.

_1 1 1 1 1 1_

The cubicle walls set up about the washracks, as stout as they were, had mirrors affixed on them. At first, Hubcap couldn't figure out why; the walls surrounding each individual station came up to about chest height on the typical Decepticon. The mirrors were set far too low to be of use to the average bather here.

It didn't really matter the reason, he supposed, and he didn't dare ask; such a question would likely only humiliate him further, and he felt he had enough of that to last him for vorns. However, with the mirrors set where they were, he had a clear reflection of himself on the days that Shockwave would clean him.

It was the first time in a number of days that he had dared to look at himself; the first time since he had been caught underneath piles of trash and covered in grime.

Shockwave had been furious at the time, but had done nothing more than wash off the dirt and repaint the scuff marks and chipped armor. Somehow, the one-eyed Decepticon had even managed to obtain an exact color match.

The repainting itself, much to Hubcaps surprise, had not been terrible; no more so than a paint job from the so-called 'artists' he had been forced to visit in his old life. They had been the sort operating in the poorer parts of Cybertron and who's clientele were often drunken vagrants fresh from a fight. At least, Shockwave had been clinical about the whole affair; angry, yes, glaring at his prisoner the entire time, but there had not been any uncomfortable touches or groping of any sort.

All things considered, it hadn't been that bad.

Still, as he gazed at his own reflection and took in his repainted self - he couldn't even spot what was new paint and what was old, he realized -, he was surprised at what he found. Despite that his armor gleamed with solvent, perfume and who knew what else was in the bottles poured on him so often - despite a recent paint job that had the exact same shade he always had - he couldn't recognize himself. With the slack faceplate, dulled optics and the visible fear staring back that even he found disturbing, it was as if he was staring at a completely different mech.

Hubcap brought a hand up to his own faceplate; the bot in the mirror did the same. What he saw truly was himself. A shudder coursed through him at how much had changed.

Thankfully, Shockwave didn't try to turn him around or to stop his staring until they were finished for the day.

_1 1 1 1 1 1_

Searchlight had not been doing well, lately. Hubcap could tell simply by looking at him; even with an entire mess hall between them, he could see the damage that had been done.

In the time that they had been held captive, the Decepticon that had claimed Searchlight - or Decepti_cons_, Hubcap had never been certain if it was one or more that had rights to the once white minibot - had been exceptionally cruel. The part of the the stout Autobots face that had once resembled a nozzle was simply gone; hacked away, as far as Hubcap could figure. Every so often, another piece, jagged in a way that implied a harsh break, would go missing; sometimes, shards that were still holding on were all that was left.

After even the shrapnel went missing, entire pieces of armor began to vanish. The sloped shoulder guards that most of their protoform mold held were the first to go; not long after that, the plating on his arms and legs. His helmet, even, had been torn away; Hubcap had seen that one for himself, shrieking from across the room as a Decepticon covered in spikes and nails ravaged the other minibot right there in the mess hall. The helmet had gone flying; where it had gone, he didn't know.

Eventually, the only protective plating that remained was a single thin piece of metal that covered the minibots' spark chamber; it was the bare minimum to survive with, if even that.

After Hubcap had given up trying to communicate some sort of comfort to the Autobot that he had really only ever really met once, he began to notice that Searchlight wasn't always given his ration. Once he had noticed that the cube wasn't always dropped in front of the other prisoner, he had tried to keep track of how often it was given; granted, there was the slim chance that the fuel was given later in the day, but he somehow doubted it.

It took three weeks of careful counting and time keeping for the yellow Autobot to estimate that Searchlight was, perhaps, fed thrice a week.

As it was, the other minibot was starved, beaten and practically nude; yet, Hubcap had never once seen the mech cry, hiccup, shudder or so much as look upset. Instead, Searchlight always glared, faceplates stone and steel, and always looked as strong as he remembered from that single meeting.

Hubcap wished he could be that brave; instead, he felt that he wept for so much less.

At the moment - like many days before - all that he could do was stare at the mech across the hall. Even as far as he was, the shivers that coursed through the unarmored protoform were as clear as anything else; Hubcap knew there was nothing he could do, but pitied him nonetheless.

No cube was set in front of the shaking minibot; as Hubcap drank his own, feeling a terrible sort of guilt as he did so, the shudders began to slow. It wasn't long before Searchlight began to still; perhaps, Hubcap hoped, he found a way to recover just a little bit.

Slowly, the optics across the room shuttered and closed; for a moment, Hubcap thought that he had simply slipped in to recharge.

It wasn't until the black of the bared protoform began to fade did he realize what had truly happened. The curled frame discolored to a pale gray as the seconds went by, every moment losing further hue. It was all too short a time before Searchlight was gone, offline and deactivated against the wall.

It had been all been sudden enough that even the Decepticons sitting nearby didn't notice; they were ignorant until one tried to get the body to move. The red-eyed mech even had the gall to appear confused as he nudged at the corpse with a foot.

All Hubcap could do was stare, slack jawed and processor blank.

_1 1 1 1 1 1_

By the time that he was returned to Shockwaves quarters, Hubcap was shaking. Trembles coursed through his frame as the shock began to fade and realization of what had happened took hold.

Searchlight was dead; he had gone offline and alone, leashed to a wall. No one had noticed; no one had cared. No one had tried to help. If he had been given so much as half a ration, he might have lived longer.

If someone as tough and as strong as Searchlight couldn't survive and couldn't escape, what hope was there for the rest of them? What hope was there for himself?

Hubcap didn't notice that Shockwave had left until he was already gone; the door locking shut - two clicks, ever since his escape attempt; double-bolted, now - snapped him out of his musings. For a long moment, he could only stare at his own hands; his stingers came out mostly out of reflex, ready to begin the usual daily routine of attempted escape.

Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to think of such a thing; his processor swam, self-deprecating in his misery.

There simply was no point to try; in all his attempts, he had only managed to nudge the door open once. Searchlight had likely done that and more, and now he was gone.

Slowly, the stingers retracted.

Hubcap began to make his way to the chaise; he felt that he needed to sit down. He needed to get his thoughts together someplace relatively comfortable.

Five steps away from the ornate lounge, he stopped; the fabric, even from where he stood, reeked of the scented lathers the monster was so fond of using every morning. Although his own plating had the same stench, his mind placed it together; the chaise smelled like Shockwave.

The berth was completely out of the question; a slow glance around the room revealed only one spot he could use. A tiny little place he had never given much thought to before.

The shelf had been built with several decorative features installed; one of which was a curved, ornate arch between the legs. A very small cavern that might have been intended as more storage space; he had even looked inside it once and had only found empty air. It had never crossed his mind since.

Now, as he neared the little cranny, Hubcap noticed that the space was just large enough to crawl in to. If he huddled inside, his small frame could actually fit; he did so now, dropping to his hands and knees to crawl inside.

It was small but strangely comfortable; Hubcap curled up in the small cavern, faceplate buried in the darkness. Even as small as the space was, his backside was only barely exposed to the rest of the room.

For a while, he simply lied there, optics closed in the attempt to settle his thoughts.

He didn't move again until the clock cried again.

_1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Color declines, all that defines me_

_Is falling away, far behind_

_Nothing to keep me with the time_

_The here and now_

_Time is just a concept_

_And always the first thing to fade_

_Agony and weakness_

_Nothing we can never evade_

_Years are cruel, they break us_

_Bringing on decay and despair_

_Awareness and perception_

_Something we can never repair_

_(Cure me, free me, help me, see me_

_No more worry, no more losing_

_Save me, near me, help me, hear me_

_No more heartache, no misery_

_Cure me, free me, help me, see me)_

_When I'm free_

_When my sun has set_

_Released my soul forever_

_I'll have no regret_

_To be free_

- 'Unleashed', Epica


	8. Chapter 8

Author notes: Finally getting somewhere. Carrera and Volks will show up next chapter. Yay! Things will actually happen!

Real life continues to eat my time away. Sigh. Work work. *Warcraft orc peon grunt*

Yay, I got REVIEWS last chapter! :D Makes me happy, it does! *hugs you all!*

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_You say you're not going to fight_

_Because no one will fight for you_

_And you think there's not enough love_

_And no one to give it to_

_And you're sure you've hurt for so long_

_You've got nothing left to lose_

_So you say you're not going to fight_

_Because no one will fight for you_

_And you're sure you've hurt in a way_

_That no one will ever know_

- 'Robot Boy', Linkin Park

**Souvenir: The Six**

**Chapter Eight**

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Nothing changed for a very long time. The days passed on by with the same languid cadence that they always did, not even worth marking as each ended and a new one began; not even the pain could differentiate one solar cycle from the next, every misery lost in it all much like a bolt of lightning would be in a storm.

Searchlight's death had done almost nothing; the corpse had been left in the mess hall where it had fallen, much to Hubcap's horror and dismay. It wasn't removed for several days and only then when numerous Decepticons complained about the smell. All that Searchlight's former masters had done was grumble with annoying and clean up the mess.

Later, as Shockwave led him through the halls, Hubcap had been able to see the gray, dead body being thrown in to a garbage chute.

Once he had been locked back inside the hated room that day, the minibot had purged his tanks in to a rubbish bin. He didn't stop until there was nothing left to purge.

After that, he did what he took to doing in the time after his fellow captive had passed; he curled up underneath the shelf with his backside to the circulated air. The small, dark space felt strangely safe in comparison to everything else; one of the few places that Shockwave's stench didn't linger.

There were quite a few afternoons that were spent crying; after a time, the captive Autobot no longer knew if he wept for himself, mourned Searchlight, or cried for something else completely different. The sadness and depression became oppressive in it's regularity; it felt as if all hope had died when Searchlight had gone gray.

Worse still, time kept on slipping by. Through observation alone, Hubcap had learned that there were only three types of prisoners in this place; those that clung to hope with everything that they had, those that lost themselves to the depths of madness and insanity, and the walking offline that barely responded to anything at all.

Hubcap had the feeling he would end up in that third category. He wondered how long it would take.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

The change came not with a cry, a crash or any sort of fanfare; instead, reality shifted with the soft hiss of an opening door.

It was hours before Shockwave usually returned; in the cavern under the shelf, Hubcap turned with terror and confusion clinging to his mind. He couldn't think of any good reason why the monster would return so early in the day and he anticipated suffering before he even saw the monolith of a Decepticon.

It was with a great deal of surprise when he didn't see Shockwave's telltale cloven pedes at all, but rather several sets of legs that he had never seen before. Hiding under the shelf in the manner he was, he couldn't see anything above their knees; he could, however, count that there were three of them.

Why three unknown Decepticons were inside Shockwave's quarters was unknown; the lack of information only served to terrify him further. Hubcap huddled where he was, looking at the moving set of pedes in silence; he barely dared to breathe.

He could easily recognize one as a seeker by the legs alone; a bright purple one by the look of it. The other two, sporting dull and, in one case, scratched up paint in greens and browns gave no indication of what model they were and the minibot was far too frightened to actually peek out to check.

"Well, he doesn't have a lot of stuff, at least." One was a femme with an annoyingly high pitched voice. She let out a deep sigh; the seeker's legs shifted in place. "Come on, let's get this over with."

With that, the three began to move. The seeker headed towards the berth, the brown one to the chaise, and the green one stepped directly in front of the shelf. A box fell - presumedly from the Decepticon's servos - to the floor with a soft 'thud'. Empty, by the sound of it, or Hubcap thought it would have been louder.

Then, the green Decepticon began to pull out the datapads from the shelf above and set them in the box.

Hubcap boggled, flabbergasted and confused; he couldn't figure out what was happening. Still, none of them appeared to be searching for him in any way; the femme and brown one busied themselves by carefully taking apart the berth and chaise in to separate pieces and setting them in larger boxes.

It almost looked like they were preparing for a move. Hubcap could distantly recall seeing a similar sight in his old life; boxes set out in front of buildings and in to the alternate mode of paid movers.

"What in.." The green mech - and most certainly not a femme by the deep, booming voice - finally noticed him. A helm swung down to peer in to his hiding space; Hubcap shrank back with a terrified gasp. "..Oh, hey, found Shockwave's slave."

Complete boredom laced the Decepticon's tone; no malice or dark intent that Hubcap could pick up. Somehow, the minibot was surprised by this.

"He said where he left the collar and leash. We'll pick him up last." The femme shrugged from nearby.

Boggling over the words, Hubcap stayed where he was. Now slightly curious, he continued to watch on as things were carefully torn apart, packed, and boxes labelled; the three of them actually appeared professional about whatever it was that they were doing. The minibot didn't spot a single thing swiped or stolen; even the expensive-looking bust of Megatron on one of the shelves was gently set in to a container and wrapped with foam.

True to the femme's words, he wasn't bothered until everything else was in a marked box. Then, the seeker looked at him from across the room. "Come on out, you."

Much like the green Decepticon, there was no threat or malice in her tone; annoyance, at best, but annoyance was better than the alternative. So, he crawled out, wary but otherwise feeling surprisingly at ease about the fact that they were there. Hubcap didn't bother to resist as the familiar collar was latched on; although, he had to admit it was more disturbing than usual to be pulled along by someone completely new.

The door slid open again; waiting outside was what looked to Hubcap like a shopping cart. The boxes were set on the hovering surface and piled atop each other inside the bin; the leash was even hooked on to the bar before the three Decepticons began to move it through the halls.

Hubcap couldn't begin to guess where he was being taken; although fear continued to cling to his processor in the same manner it always did, he found himself more curious than alarmed. Perhaps he was in shock; he didn't know what he should be doing, if he should be doing anything at all.

As they moved through the hall, several curious glances were sent in their direction; still, neither Decepticon nor Autobot slave appeared to take this as a particularly surprising event or even a new one. Despite what felt to be the very long amount of time that he had been held captive, Hubcap had to admit that he hadn't been let out of Shockwave's room for very long; if this sort of thing happened frequently, he wouldn't have had no way to know.

With that thought, he began to relax.

Eventually, they came to an elevator; an ornate, golden gate that was just as opulent on the outside as it was within. Hubcap had never seen something so obviously expensive; for several seconds, he stared at the embossed decorations on the walls inside the elevator as an upbeat tune blared from the overhead speakers.

When the doors opened, the gold decor did not stop; in fact, it increased and was further affixed with various gems and precious metals. Even the Decepticons dragging him along went at a slower pace to stare at everything that they passed.

"Holy slag, is that a korlonium crystal?" The brown mech leading them along sputtered and gaped at a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. "..Don't those things usually explode?"

"The really expensive ones don't." The femme apparently couldn't help but boggle up at it as well. "I think I saw them in a fashion mag, once."

"..Hmm." The green Decepticon peered up. "Think anyone would notice if we swiped it?"

"Okay, we're moving on, now." The femme gave the cart a forceful shove. "No swiping things, especially not _here_. Not unless you have a death wish."

The other two Decepticons let out soft grumbles, but made no attempt to steal anything along the way.

Several doors were passed by, each as overly decorative as the last; keypads rested by each one as simply another sign of how expensive everything must have been. Eventually, the group stopped in front of one of them; the seeker pulled a datapad out of the cart, stared at it, and then carefully tapped at the buttons.

When the door slid open, the cart was wheeled in.

The room was impressibly large, but completely empty save for a few rather average-looking bar shelves mounted on the walls and an expansive window. Doors stood at either ends of the room - one in a corner, two against the wall -, but, otherwise, it was barren.

Despite that the window only gave a view of distant glittering stars and the black expanse of space, Hubcap couldn't help but stare out at it. It was the first view of space that he had held since before his capture; he couldn't recall when he had last seen a real star, even a faintly glittering one.

Boxes were taken from the cart, set on the floor, and promptly opened. The three Decepticons began to rebuild the furniture they had taken apart not too long beforehand, setting them up in what passed as the exact location they had been before. Although the room was much larger than the one they had been in before, the datapad the femme continually glanced to seemed to have had clear enough instructions on where everything should be placed.

The Decepticons constantly moving about gave sight to where the doors led; each opened automatically as they neared it. The two against the walls were small, empty, but appeared to have been intended as closets; the one in the far corner led to a washracks station.

As the furniture was rebuilt, Hubcap remained leashed to the cart. After a few minutes, he slowly sat down to wait; even from where he was, he continued to stare out the window.

It took longer to put together the furniture than it had been to take apart. The wait was only made longer when the brown Decepticon realized he had put the berth together incorrectly; the three of them had to take it apart and set it back together all over again.

Only when everything was put together and the femme seeker had been absolutely certain that they were all sturdy was he unleashed from the cart and the collar taken off. The minibot didn't so much as look up at the three Decepticons; none of them glanced back in his direction for more than a moment as they headed for the door.

"W-wait!" Hubcap sputtered as he snapped out of the hypnotism the stars had created; the confusion clung to all the harsher.

"What?" The seeker sighed with obvious disdain; she turned around sharply. "Make it snappy."

"Wh.. What's going on?"

"_Now _you ask?" The femme rubbed her faceplate. "Shockwave got a promotion." She then turned and stalked out; as she left, she grumbled audibly. "Lucky slagger gets _everyth_ -" The door slid shut behind her and cut off her words.

Silence reigned for several seconds. Hubcap mulled over the words. Slowly, he looked around the room again; the chaise was set by the window. Despite the stench that he abhorred so deeply, he made his way to the lush fabric.

There, he crawled atop it, sat down and stared at the stars.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_You say the weight of the world_

_Has kept you from letting go_

_And you think compassion's a flaw_

_And you'll never let it show_

_And you're sure you've hurt in a way_

_That no one will ever know_

_But someday, the weight of the world_

_Will give you strength to go_

_Hold on, the weight of the world_

_Will give you the strength to go_

_So hold on, the weight of the world_

_Will give you the strength to go_

_Just hold on, the weight of the world_

_Will give you the strength to go_

- 'Robot Boy', Linkin Park

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Author notes: By the way, if anyone is wondering, I clicked 'random page' on the Transformers wikia to find those three random Decepticons. Specifically, Quake (though, I ended up at his Shattered Glass page), Thunderblast (Cybertron version) and Gairyu (from Victory). XD


	9. Chapter 9

Author Notes: Excuse me while I kick reality's ass. I need more hours in my day, universe! Grrrr! :/

So, here we go, Carerra and Volks get thrown in. I went through four different alternate ways to do so. Hope this one works out.

Wheeee! ... *thud*

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Sorry, did I wake your dream?_

_Some questions run too deep_

_We only, only wake up when we sleep_

_Led by the lunar light, trouble's all we'd find_

_Lost our way tonight_

_Save me_

_Trapped in a vile world_

_Where the end game's all the same as any other_

_We're only here to die_

_How many years to walk this path alone?_

_So much to see tonight_

_So why'd you close your eyes?_

_Why can't I shut mine?_

- 'Save Me', Avenged Sevenfold

**Souvenir: The Six**

**Chapter Nine**

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

The usual warning never went off.

When the door slid open again, Hubcap was still on the chaise. He had been gazing out of the window since the three movers had left, lost in what felt like a strange, sad melancholy that had fallen over him. It was only the tell-tale hiss that snapped him out of the daze; alarmed, the minibot turned as the familiar fear sprung to life.

Shockwave stood there, single optic flickering.

Hubcap stayed where he was, frozen from fear. He had never been caught on the monsters' favorite seat, before; the alarm typically gave him time to move to a safer part of the room. Now, he wasn't certain what to do.

That gleaming red optic blinked rapidly in what appeared to be confusion. An elongated faceplate gave a quick glance around the new apartment. After a very long, quiet moment, a deep huff of displeasure was released.

Then, Shockwave turned and walked out of the room. The door slid shut behind him.

Hubcap sat where he was, dumbfounded; although he hadn't been certain if he would be punished simply for sitting there, he had been certain that, at the very least, _something_ would have happened.

Baffled, the minibot slid off the chaise. By the time he was nestled in a far corner, the door slid open again. As expected, Shockwave walked in once more; unexpectedly, the clock was held in his talons.

Hubcap frowned; that explained the lack of alarm. The movers must have forgotten it.

Quietly, he watched as the Decepticon that owned him set the clock above the berth. Then, cloven pedes made their way for the shelf; just like any other ordinary day, it seemed. The slit optic peered over the datapads; then, with a sudden loudness that startled the Autobot, a deep snarl filled the room.

With that, datapads were grabbed out of their neatly lined arrays and shoved in to different spaces. Growls and huffs of annoyance spat out of the tall Decepticon's vocalizer as the electronic devices were rearranged.

Somehow, Hubcap found himself amused; whatever instructions that had been left for the seeker femme had apparently neglected to mention the precise order in which Shockwave kept his things.

It took several minutes until everything seemed to be in order; a much calmer breath heaved itself from the tall purple frame when it was. Then, claws lingered over the datapads, hovered over several titles and then pulled one from the shelf.

From there, the rest of the night went on as normal.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

The schedule had changed, but not by much. However, it wound up being those tiny details that made all the difference; the few hours now spent leashed by the tall double doors, for example, certainly distracted him from worse things.

After all, Hubcap could actually talk to someone, now; without being bathed in public - free of the jeers, but also with the loss of other Autobots to communicate with -, he would have had no one but Shockwave to keep him company.

Now, there was, at the very least, a bot across the hall and another a few spaces away. The one across the way - what may have once been a gleaming white Elite Guard officer - appeared to have joined the ranks of the numb quite some time ago. However, the mech a few spaces down appeared alert, if constantly frightened.

Gleefully, the mech wasn't too far away; he could talk to him, if he dared to rise his voice only slightly louder than speaking volume.

Of course, Hubcap waited until the hall was deserted and the large doors closed before he ever dared to do such a thing; he didn't know what would happen if he would be caught speaking, but he doubted it would be pretty.

"Hey, you, orange guy." Hubcap couldn't help but grin. "Name's Hubcap." It felt like far too long since he had had the chance to have a real conversation with someone; the minibot shook from sheer excitement. "What's yours?"

The orange Autobot stared nervously for a moment. The mech was certainly no minibot, bearing a bulky build and a frame that hinted at a crane alternate mode. Wide blue optics roamed around the hall, likely to make certain that they were alone, before looking back to the shaking frame. "I.. I don't remember."

Fair enough, Hubcap supposed; worst things had been lost. "I'm just going to call you 'orange guy' until we think of something better."

The orange crane blinked widely. "..Okay."

From there, days were spent simply talking. The crane couldn't recall much of his old life - memories had been lost to pain and time - but at least he was there and that alone was something to look forward to.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

The stars outside the window were the only other thing to be enjoyed; the stench of the chaise was endured solely to get a good view of the glittering lights outside. Hubcap supposed it was a silly thing to do every day; stare and play simple, sparkling-like games with only the stars to work with.

Lights were connected with imaginary lines; nonexistent constellations were formed and named. Occasionally, there would be a slight shift in the stars; even the slightest move of the large ship could change the view, he realized. Somehow, Hubcap was not bothered by it; he only formed new constellations as it occurred.

He wondered if, perhaps, this sort of simplicity was the first sign that he was losing his mind. This level of joy from something so small couldn't possibly have been normal. For the most part, he wasn't too terribly bothered by the thought; insanity couldn't possibly be so bad if this is how he felt with it.

Perhaps insanity wasn't such a bad thing, after all.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_This was all absolutely insane._

_ Explosions rocked the small craft, sending it teetering to and fro despite that nothing but dead space lingered outside. Gravity centers alone would have otherwise kept it all stable; that is, if they weren't being fired upon from multiple directions._

_ "What the __**frag**__, people!" A stout, green minibot shrieked as she grabbed for the controls. "Freeway, where the slag are you?"_

_ "I.. I was checking on the kid!" The terrified voice that came through the speakers did nothing to calm frayed nerves. "I mean.. It.. It's our job to make sure he's okay.."_

_ "Idiot." The femme growled to herself. Then, the comlink was switched back on. "Volks, please tell me -"_

_ "I'm already on it, Carerra!" The high pitched, ordinarily chipper tone somehow seemed terribly wrong laced in the fear that it was. "Shields are up, but I don't think it's going to last long! Weapon relays are kinda running down, too! And.. Uhm.." A nervous gulp._

_ "..Volks, out with -" A particularly harsh jolt ran through the craft. "__**Spit it out**__!"_

_ Volks whimpered again. "..Two of the escape pods are completely blown apart."_

_ "Son of a.." Carerra snarled; panic flared in her mind as she tried to think of any way out of the mess they had stumbled in to._

_ It wasn't as if they expected a surprise attack in the middle of nowhere; the shortcut through less charted space was supposed to bring them home faster, not get them all killed. She wasn't even certain who was shooting at them or why._

_ "Freeway, Volks, get the kid to the stasis pod and get out of here!"_

_ "'Rerra!" Volks gasped on her end of the line. "You can't man the ship and pilot at the same time!"_

_ "Just __**go**__! I'll catch up, I swear!"_

_ "Uhm.." Freeway gulped. "We should go. I think we should do what Cererra says!"_

_ "Of course you do, you slagging glitch." The green femme mumbled to herself, mindful of the comlink; she never did like Freeway. As far as she was concerned, he was a greedy coward only there for the exorbitant pay. At the first sign of trouble, he was always the first to turn tailpipe and run._

_ "Then __**you**__ go!" An unusual growl came from Volks; vehemence was unlike her. "I'm staying with 'Rerra! You can take Mirage and get out of here, but I'm staying!"_

_ Carerra smiled a little; now, Volks - the little green femme that she was, petite even for a minibot - seemed tough as nails, sometimes. Carerra couldn't recall a single time where the tiny femme hadn't stood her ground, often with a gun thrice her size. A perfect example of the escorts that they were._

_ "Fine, fine, we'll go, we'll go!" Freeway yelped._

_ For a moment, there was silence._

_ Then, the command console flashed and lit up with new information; Carerra barely dared to glance down as the craft warned of the final stasis pod leaving the ship._

_ As the ship rumbled beneath gunfire, Carerra flipped on her comlink again. "Volks? Thanks."_

_ "Hey, what are friends for, right?" A chipper giggle came through the speakers. "Now let's show these bozos who's boss!"_

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

The day had gone as usual when it had happened.

Hubcap had been gazing out the stars when the door slid open. With the hour as early as it was, he turned in surprise; he expected Shockwave to stand there.

Instead, two small forms were shoved in to the room; both fell to the floor as the door closed. At once, both sets of bright blue optics glared at the door for several seconds.

"Fraggers." The green frame stood and rubbed at her wrists. "Volks, you okay?"

"Yeah.. Yeah, I think so." The shorter orange femme - and they both were femmes, by the sound and look of it - staggered to her feet. Slowly, she looked around the apartment. "Where do you think we - _eep_!"

Then, both of them noticed Hubcap.

Shocked silence reigned for a long moment.

At first, Hubcap could only feel shock at the new arrivals. Both shared his protoform mold, although they were shaped to better accommodate their gender. Perhaps, he thought, he was hallucinating; a false image created by his dwindling psyche. He had suspected insanity was looming, after all.

However, if they weren't really there, they probably wouldn't be staring at him the way that they were.

With the concept that they truly existed came a whole new slew of questions. If they were in this room, then they must have been claimed by Shockwave. A memory file resurfaced; hadn't Shockwave once said that he wasn't allowed more than one? Had his promotion changed that? What if it hadn't?

If it hadn't, there was only one reason for them to be there.

"..He's going to kill me." Hubcap found himself voicing the thought.

"What?" The orange one blinked.

"Who's going to kill you?" The green one frowned and took a step forward. "Sir, do you know where we are? Do you know what's going on?"

Trembles began to course through Hubcap's frame. Slowly, he slid off the chaise as his processor began to ramble. "Primus, he said he could only have one. He can't have _three_, so he's going to kill me. He must've gotten tired of me or something, or maybe he just wants a femme.. He's going to kill me." A new notion surfaced. "Or, worse, what if he gives me to someone else? I'm going to go down just like Searchlight did!" He began to pace.

"..Uh.. 'Rerra?" The orange femme gulped and took a step back.

"..Yeah?" The green femme wasn't much better.

"I'm scared."

"Me, too."

Hubcap didn't care about how he came off to these femmes; if they were here, there was only one fate that awaited them. He didn't know if Shockwave intended to get rid of him before or after they knew what was going on, but, perhaps, there was some good he could do before he was carted off.

He turned to stare at the girls. "Do you know why you're here?"

"..Uh.." The green one sputtered. "Sir, that's what I was trying to ask -"

"Shockwave picked you out, right? Tall purple guy, one really big creepy optic? Lots of claws?"

"Y.. Yeah." The green one nodded.

"You're here to be his spark slaves! That's what I've been for.. Forever, and it's going to hurt like slag! But you have to be careful because he's fragging huge and I tried to get out a few times, but it didn't work.."

"W-wait, what?" A sputter came from the orange frame. "_Spark slaves?_"

"Sir..!" The other femme was similarly shocked. "Sir, how.. How long have you _been_ here?"

Hubcap stopped at the question. His chronometer had been shut off far too long ago to get an accurate reading now. "..What year is it?"

The two newcomers shared a look. After a deep, shaky breath, the green one spoke again. "Oh, frag."

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_No pulse inside of me_

_Stone cold lips and heresy_

_All lies and to a degree_

_Losing who I want to be_

_He may be out of his mind_

_But some day you will find_

_That sanity left us all blind_

_And dragged us all behind_

_A moment seen through those eyes_

_Crystal blue disguise_

_If you'd only open your eyes_

_Then some day you will find_

_Inanity left us behind_

_And walked right through the door_

_Tonight we all die young_

- 'Save Me', Avenged Sevenfold


	10. Chapter 10

Author notes: Excuse me while reality kicks my ass. *thud*

Do I actually have some reviews to respond to? GASP. Yes, that I do!

Sassbrat: That scene will probably happen in this fic in the later parts. But.. Very much later. Yeeah.. *cough*

Thephoenixqueen: The 'kid' was Mirage. Trackback isn't even.. .. I don't know what I did right with Trackback for people to like him. XD;

Smoking Caramels: The plot bunnies have been viciously gnawing on me while I've been at work, no less. It's been nuts, here! *dizzy thud*

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_Walk the silent emptiness_

_That leads me by my hand_

_And throw away_

_What I don't understand as a man_

_Love, hate_

_Sex, pain_

_It's complicating me sometimes_

_Love, hate,_

_Sex, pain_

_It's underestimating life_

_And I wonder as I tear away my skin_

_It's taken me so long_

_To stitch these wounds from where I've been_

_And mother, please, don't bury me_

_I'm begging for my life_

_It's hard to say that I would be complete_

_Before I die_

- 'Love-Hate-Sex-Pain', _Godsmack_

**Souvenir: The Six**

**Chapter Ten**

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

"..Uh.. 'Rerra?" Volks gulped from a few feet away.

"..Yeah?" Carerra felt equal parts shocked and terrified, staring at the rambling yellow minibot in shellshocked disbelief.

"I'm scared."

"Me, too."

'Scared' was, for the most part, an understatement; Carerra couldn't recall the last time she had been struck cold in such a way.

As a security guard and an escort, she had been through more than a few dangerous situations and fire-filled skirmishes; granted, there had been more times where things had gone according to plan than otherwise, but her life for the past several hundred stellar cycles had been lived with the expectation that things can and would go wrong.

This, however, was far beyond anything she could have expected. After all, weren't Decepticons supposed to be extinct? The last time she had heard of one had been in history class.

The green minibot glanced to her orange friend to find that the same wide blue optics she must have had were staring back at her; Volks, it seemed, wasn't doing much better.

Then, the yellow mech stopped pacing and turned to face them. "Do you know why you're here?"

"..Uh.." Carerra sputtered, openly gaping at the crazed twitch the mech sported. "Sir, that's what I was trying to ask -"

"Shockwave picked you out, right? Tall purple guy, one really big creepy optic? Lots of claws?"

"Y.. Yeah." Well, that couldn't be good; the name alone sent warning bells through her mind, but she couldn't recall why.

"You're here to be his spark slaves!"

The words sent a cold chill down her spinal strut. She opened and closed her mouth several times, but no sound came out.

Still, he continued to ramble. "That's what I've been for.. Forever, and it's going to hurt like slag! But you have to be careful because he's fragging huge and I tried to get out a few times, but it didn't work.."

"W-wait, what?" Volks, however, managed to get hold of herself faster than she was able to. _"Spark slaves?_"

Horror began to bubble up in Carerra's mind; the yellow mech was obviously insane. She had only once ever had to deal with a bot that behaved similarly, and that had been to help cart off a hallucinatory asylum patient to a hospital. Still, that particular bot's insanity had been from a prolonged stay and heavy medication that he hadn't needed. "Sir.. Sir, how long have you _been_ here?"

The question had the yellow bot pause in a deeply disturbing manner; he actually jolted in a way that didn't seem natural. "What year is it?"

Carerra turned slowly to stare at Volks; her orange-plated friend stared back. "Oh, frag."

Slowly, hesitantly, Volks turned back to stare at the mech. "G.. Give us a few seconds, sir. We just.. We need a moment, okay?" She smiled in the same way she did with that asylum patient from so long ago.

"He'll be back pretty soon, though." Still, the yellow minibot backed off and even crawled back atop the couch.

As he did so, Carerra took a few steps back; Volks followed until they were both back by the door they had been tossed through.

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" Volks' voice had never sounded so small; her optics had never been quite so wide.

"I.. I think he might be." Carerra gulped and glanced at the mech on the couch; the bot in question sat on the chaise and traced nonexistent lines on the window with a single finger. "He's missing a few cogs, so he's gone through _some_thing, that's for sure."

"So.. So, you think.." Volks covered her mouth with one hand; the petite orange frame began to tremble.

"Hey. Hey, Volks." Carerra frowned deeply and grabbed her friend's shoulders in a gentle hold. "Volks, remember when we had to take that one business guy past the Rigel System and we had to stop to refuel? We went to that bar, remember? And that one glitched aftplate tried to attack you?"

Volks stared up at her friend for several quiet seconds. "..Yeah, but he wasn't three times as big as I am and wasn't a Decepticon."

"That's not the point." Carerra tried to smile; even she could tell it was shaky. "You kicked his aft and even got him arrested after. Even if Mr. Crazyaft there is telling the truth, we can handle this. We'll be okay."

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

They weren't going to be all right; Hubcap could tell just by looking at them.

He had never seen femmes so small. At least, he couldn't remember ever seeing minibots shorter than he was, even in those seemingly ancient memory files from before his capture. These two were of a size that most would have to be careful with in interface.

Shockwave was anything other than careful.

The two femmes were on the far side of the room, standing and talking quietly by the door. If he strained, Hubcap thought he could probably make out what they were saying; it wasn't a small apartment, but it wasn't large enough for complete privacy, either. However, he didn't really try, far more interested in looking at the stars.

Fake constellations were created anew; if this was going to be the last night he had to make them, he wanted to make as many as he could.

There came a sudden notion, however, that these two may be the last Autobots he ever spoke to. If he was deactivated or handed to another Decepticon, he doubted he'd get any more opportunities that he had under Shockwave.

However, the two were clearly intent on avoiding him by the distance they took. Perhaps they thought he was crazy. Perhaps he was; he didn't know and, for the most part, he didn't care.

Still, he glanced back to the two newcomers. "Oh, my name's Hubcap."

The two femmes stopped and stared; both sets of optics were wide. A few seconds of surprisingly awkward silence passed.

"..Volks." The shorter, orange femme shifted in place. "And -"

"Carerra." The green one frowned.

Hubcap smiled at the responses. Then, he turned back to the window, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his frame.

At least _some_one here knew his name. Other than Shockwave, that is.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

Shockwave was going to come back. It wasn't so much a matter of if; it was barely even a question of when. The schedule, as far as Hubcap knew, hadn't changed; he knew exactly when the antlered monster would return.

A glance to the berthside clock told him that it wouldn't be too much longer. He knew he had to do something and do it soon; if he waited for the alarm to sound off, there wouldn't be enough time to warn the femmes of what was to come.

"He's going to be here in ten cycles." The yellow minibot didn't look back at the two newcomers. Instead, his gaze returned to the window and the stars beyond. "When he does, he's going to read on this couch, here, for a little while. The alarm is going to go off when he's done." A moment of silence passed as he tried to remember what else they needed to know. "..He also doesn't like it if you bother him while he's reading, so it's better to just leave him alone and wait for him to be done. Then, he's going to take you to the berth." Or one of them, he supposed.

No response came from the girls.

Just as Hubcap began to think that they had either not heard him or were ignoring him, a hushed gasp came from one of them. Then, what he thought was the little orange one spoke up in a near whisper.

"Thank you."

Still facing the window, Hubcap smiled.

When the alarm sounded several minutes later, he could hear both of the femmes gasp and jump.

With a sigh, Hubcap slid off the chaise and finally turned around. With the way both of the new minibots backpedalled from the door, he wound up meeting them in the center of the apartment. From there, he tried to herd them in to a far corner - relying more on where he used to cower than anything else - with gentle nudges and vague gestures. It wasn't until the door actually slid open did the three minibots really get to where Hubcap thought they needed to go.

Shockwave's great purple form all but floated in; the antlered Decepticon appeared to be in a particularly pleasant mood. A great red optic, bearing a slightly brighter tint than usual, glanced at their direction for only a few seconds. Then, the gaze shifted to the shelf and claws picked out a datapad.

Hubcap frowned to himself. As the two femmes cowered and clung to each other - the taller of the two tried to calm the other down - the yellow minibot stared at Shockwave in baffled disbelief.

Wasn't something supposed to happen? Wasn't Shockwave supposed to kill him or hand him to another Decepticon? Was it going to happen after the usual reading?

Gritting his dentals, Hubcap sat back and waited. His limbs locked up in tense anticipation; he couldn't recall ever feeling quite so anxious for something so terrible.

It felt like the reading session took far longer than usual; it was a small eternity before the alarm went off again. When it did, that great red optic flashed brightly - the same way it always did before an assault.

Claws set the datapad back in it's rightful place on the shelf. Then, cloven pedes took slow, steady steps towards the three minibots. The two femmes - he hadn't bothered to remember their names, fairly certain he would never see them again - took defensive positions and glared with equal parts ferocity and fear up the long distance at a shadowed faceplate.

Hubcap didn't even bother to stand; he frowned at Shockwave's approaching form. "Are you going to kill me now?"

The girls glanced back at him; this much, he had expected. However, the visible surprise on the ever-menacing monster wasn't. A single red optic blinked rapidly as it's gaze turned towards him. "Kill you? Now, why would I do that?"

Hubcap sputtered in shock; slowly, he got to his pedes. "You.. You said you could only have one."

Several seconds of silence passed. That large, slit optic flickered several more times. "That is no longer the case." He sounded amused.

Hubcap openly gaped at this response, boggling at what it insinuated; did this mean that he wasn't going to be painfully deactivated or sent away? A stunned haze fell over his processor; did this mean he was still going to still be kept there? The world spun.

A sudden scream shook him out of his thoughts; the orange femme - Volks, was it? He hadn't thought their names would matter - was being held in one claw, the talons of one large servo wrapped firmly around both tiny wrists. A cloven pede held the green femme to the floor, the smaller frame held firm with her back to the floor.

A pair of very small stasis cuffs were already in Shockwave's free hand; where that even came from, Hubcap wasn't sure.

"S.. Stop!" He found himself yelling the denial without any real conscious decision to do so.

"Stay where you are." Shockwave ordered; he sounded as if he were smiling. The stasis cuffs were clasped around one green wrist and then the other with seemingly little effort on the Decepticon's part; no amount of flailing helped the femme. "Do not interfere, Hubcap."

He always hated how the monster said his name.

"Let go of me!" Volks screamed and pulled at the hold on her wrists. Her pedes and ankles twitched in an odd way; Hubcap thought she might have been trying to perform some sort of martial arts maneuver. Whatever it was that she was trying to do was failing; wide blue optics, panic-ridden and desperate, locked in his direction. "Help me!"

"Volks!" The paralyzed femme on the floor choked out. "You glitched fragger, _don't touch her_!"

Two strong, polarized emotions warred in Hubcap's processor. The first came from countless stellar cycles of imprisonment and despair; a desperate need to avoid pain at all costs. With new revelations presenting itself, the notion that he could spend at least one night without roving claws along his frame became incredibly tempting to take; he could simply do as Shockwave commanded and back away.

The second came from a distant part of his past, ingrained in gritty memory files and a life almost forgotten; before reality had become nothing but miserable and that of an object, he had spent his existence charming others to like him. There had been the deep need to have others like him; approval and delight were what he had craved. Now, there were two Autobots here; the first he had seen and spoken to for more than a few cycles at a time. The first real chance to make _friends_.

There was no way to have both; it was either back away or dive in. To either be liked and in pain or hated and free for a night.

Of course, that 'one night' wouldn't last forever; being liked could last for far longer than that.

With that, it didn't take long to make a decision.

"Stop it! Leave them alone!" Hubcap took a few steps forward; Shockwave glared in response. "They.. They need time to adjust and learn! Just.. Please, leave them alone for a night or two, okay? If you want to frag someone, frag me! You've been doing it for Primus knows how long anyway!"

He could handle another night; it wasn't any less than he had been expecting just that morning.

Shockwave continued to stare; as always, his expression was difficult to gauge. Still, the pause was long enough to give Hubcap some hope; perhaps he was considering the proposal.

"..Very well, then."

The same relief that passed through his systems were readily visible on the faceplates of both femmes. A taloned arm reached across the hall, elongating itself - earning surprised gasps from both new captives - to grasp at something on top of the shelf. As it pulled back, a second set of very small stasis cuffs were in hand.

The tiny orange femme collapsed to the floor next to her friend; both twitched in near-complete paralysis.

Shockwave continued to glare in his direction. "Get on the berth."

Hubcap felt as if he had won some monumental battle; he had to hold back a smile as he did as told. There was no resistance, no struggles and no complaints.

However, he still couldn't help the pain-filled cries that came when their sparks met; he never had been able to.

_1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1_

_In this life, I'm me_

_Just sitting here alone_

_By the way, I tried to say I'd be there_

_For you_

_Don't you worry, please_

_And don't you leave me_

_Because I'll surely slip away_

_Through love, hate, sex and pain_

_I fall away in to_

_Love, hate, sex and pain_

_Love, hate_

_Sex, pain_

_It's complicating me sometimes_

_This love, hate_

_Sex, pain_

_It's underestimating life_

- 'Love-Hate-Sex-Pain', _Godsmack_


End file.
